Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK/SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 17: Addressing a press conference here on Monday April 17, former chief minster of Karnataka and JD(S) state president, H D Kumaraswamy, dismissed the news of his party having entered into tacit understanding with Congress about fighting the next assembly election as unsubstantiated rumour.

"The information about this internal understanding between Congress and JD(S) is false. We have not done anything on these lines. We have behind us the bitter experience of having run a coalition government in Karnataka in association with both these parties. We will not enter into electoral alliance with any parties for the election, even if it results in instability," he explained.

Kumaraswamy alleged that a large amount of money was distributed to voters in Gundlupet and Nanjangud bypolls held recently. He indicated the possibility of three Congress leaders returning to JD(S) fold before the next assembly election.

When asked about not fielding JD(S) candidates in the by-elections, Kumaraswamy said, "Yes we did not field our candidates in the by-elections, as we do not consider these elections as a matter of prestige and waste money. We are looking forward to the forthcoming Assembly elections and we are confident we will able to dominate. We will also field candidates in Dakshina Kannada. We are working on it already.

Speaking about the alleged torture of murder-attempt accused Ahmed Qureshi in police custody, Kumaraswamy said, "Protest was carried out claiming that Ahmed Qureshi was innocent and that he was illegally detained by the police. There would not have been any confusion if the issue had been clearly discussed with the police. He was arrested from the court premises on March 21, but till 27 he was illegally detained without being produced in the court, which created suspicions. Police could have taken him to court during March 21 and 27, taken court order, and then into custody for further interrogation.

"Police also claimed in the court that he met with an accident on March 25. Even this creates suspicions as to what happend between March 21 and 27. Did police allow him to go free on March 25? Even in the FIR, the police have not mentioned any serious charges against Qureshi, and if Qureshi was involved in Prakash Poojary and Sudarshan case, why was this not mentioned in the FIR report?

"Qureshi's family has claimed he was beaten in an inhuman way which led to his kidney faliure, and through an anonymous police officer, I have came to know that when Qureshi was arrested, he mentioned about his kidney problem, but instead of taking him to the hospital, the police illegally detained till March 27. We can notice that in the name of law and order there are lots of instances of assault taking place," Kumaraswamy said.

When asked if he had visited Qureshi in the hospital, he said, "I have not met the patient but I have gathered information from police as well as from Qureshi's family. I will collect more information regarding the issue and raise this during the next assembly session. Even during Kallapa Handibag issue, the truth was revealed after I raised my voice in the Assembly. I do not want to defend anyone, the government should take stringent action against those involved in wrongdoings, and should not allow them to grow. This issue needs to be investigated, be it COD, CID or judicial inquiry, so that truth is revealed.

Commenting on other issues, he targetted the state government and said, "The state is witnessing suicide of farmers every now and then, also, the state is facing acute shortage of water. The government has failed to win the confidence of the farmers and readdress their problems. Chief minister Siddaramaiah is frequently saying that he will visit drought-hit areas but so far he has not. I have once advised Siddaramaiah to visit and halt in remote areas to understand and review the condition of those areas, but he did not show any concern. The state government had earlier released a sum of Rs 450 crore and a total of Rs 1,200 crore was released from National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). The CM also claimed that the process of handing over the compensation to farmers has been started. So far we have witnessed nearly Rs 20 lac of crop loss in the state.

On the issue of people suffering death and injury from chemical waste dumped in the outskirts of Mysuru, he demanded immediate disbursal of compensation to the affected families. He also urged the chief minster to file criminal cases against those responsible for this incident.

About the derogatory comment made by former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdulla, about his father, Kumaraswamy felt that he would not have spoken lightly of H D Deve Gowda if Omar was aware of the contributions made by the former Prime Minister for the development of Kashmir.

JD(S) leader Amarnath Shetty, Mohammed Kunhi and others were present.