Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday, 2 July launched a sharp counterattack against Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, asserting that no one remains at the top indefinitely and that political fortunes are always temporary. Kumaraswamy made the remarks while addressing the media at the Janata Dal (Secular) party's State Headquarters, JP Bhavan, in Bengaluru.

The Opening Salvo

'The belief that “I alone will remain, and everything revolves around me” is nothing but an illusion. Every position and every phase has an end,' Kumaraswamy said, in a pointed response to Shivakumar's recent claim that the Union Minister had 'abandoned Ramanagara.'

Kumaraswamy pushed back firmly: 'Whose permission do I need to leave a district? Around 80,000 people voted for us in Ramanagara and another 80,000 in Magadi. In the Lok Sabha elections, the people sent his own brother home. Did that mean he abandoned Kanakapura?' He called Shivakumar's remarks 'frivolous' and urged the Chief Minister to focus on public welfare instead.

Shivakumar Accused of Favouring Bengaluru South

Kumaraswamy accused the Chief Minister of narrowing his priorities to the politically renamed Bengaluru South district — formerly Ramanagara — a renaming that Shivakumar himself had pushed through. 'Everyone knows where the Chief Minister's priorities lie. Is he the Chief Minister only for these four taluks, or for the entire State?' he asked.

He alleged that when a delegation from Ramanagara visited seeking ₹770 crore for district development, Shivakumar chose to speak exclusively about the proposed Bidadi Township — a project that, according to Kumaraswamy, no one in the room had come to discuss. 'Not a single person there had come to discuss the Bidadi Township. Yet he spoke only about that issue,' he said.

Development Record Under Scrutiny

Kumaraswamy challenged Shivakumar's claim that no development had taken place in the Ramanagara region before the current government. 'When I first came to Ramanagara, not even a single village had proper roads. Where was this man then?' he asked.

He also recalled that many villages in Shivakumar's own Kanakapura constituency — just 53 kilometres from Bengaluru city — had lacked electricity and drinking water when he was first elected. 'I worked for the people of Kanakapura to the best of my ability. There was hardly a proper road then,' Kumaraswamy said, adding that he had never engaged in activities like 'breaking rocks' or exporting them abroad — remarks widely read as an indirect allegation against Shivakumar.

Bidadi Township Row

Kumaraswamy also revisited the long-running controversy over the Bidadi Satellite Township proposal, which he had announced during his own tenure. He noted that both Shivakumar and the Indian National Congress (Congress) had opposed it at the time, as had some farmers. A fact-finding committee headed by H.K. Patil was subsequently constituted to examine the proposal.

'If they have the courage, let them place that committee's report before the people,' Kumaraswamy challenged, suggesting the findings may be inconvenient for the ruling party. The exchange marks a fresh escalation in the ongoing rivalry between the two leaders, with the Karnataka political landscape likely to remain volatile ahead of the next electoral cycle.