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Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Wednesday responded to the remarks made by Former Prime Minister & JD(S) National President HD Deve Gowda, saying that the Congress gave enough opportunities to everyone, including Gowda and the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. Speaking to ANI, he said that Gowda and Kumaraswamy didn't have the courage and capacity to maintain the power and keep everyone together in the party. "Congress gave all opportunities, including the Prime Minister to Deve Gowda ji and the Chief Minister to HD Kumaraswamy. They didn't have the capacity or courage to maintain it. It was their duty to keep the alliance happy and bring everyone together. Without taking everyone together, they lost power. They didn't have the large heart to take everyone together," he said.

Gowda's 'abusive relationship' remark

The remarks follow a letter Deve Gowda wrote in response to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's jibe at him, stating that Devegowda 'loved' Congress but 'married' the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Taking it to X, Gowda wrote, "My dear friend Shri. @kharge made a humorous comment in parliament today on my "love" for @INCIndia and "marriage" with @BJP4India. I was not there in the House when he spoke. Here's my response, both light-hearted and factual, on why I was forced to "divorce" the Congress @PMOIndia." In a letter attached to the post, Deve Gowda wrote, "If I were to respond to my friend in the same language of marriage, I would like to say that I was in a 'forced marriage' with the Congress but had to 'divorce' them because it was an abusive relationship."

Gowda recalls backing Kharge for CM

In a letter, Gowda recalled how he vouched for Kharge to be the Chief Minister; however, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad insisted on Kumaraswamy's leadership. He further stated that if the party had acted against the person who instigated defection casing several Congress leaders to join the BJP, Kharge would have been in a better position as AICC President. "Kharge will remember that in 2018, Congress sent Ghulam Nabi Azad and offered HD Kumaraswamy the chief ministership. I did not consent to this. I told everybody in everybody's presence that Kharge should be made Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah was also there. However, Azad insisted on Kumaraswamy's leadership.

But after all this song, dance and a wedding, what did they do in 2019? They damped us. How many Congress MLAs defected to the BJP and who sent them across is now common knowledge. If Congress had acted against the person who instigated defection that day, today my friend, Kharge, would be in a better position as AICC President," he wrote in the letter.

Kharge's original 'love and marriage' jibe

Meanwhile, Kharge on Wednesday recalled his association with former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda of over 54 years quipped, "I have known Deve Gowda for more than 54 years, and I have worked with him a lot. Later, I don't know what happened. 'Wo mohabbat humare saath kiye, shaadi Modi sahab ke sath'." (ANI)