Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Nov 18: "Contrary to the facade of innocence donned by Deve Gowda and his claim that he was pressurized to sign a letter expelling Ramakrishna Hegde from the party, Deve Gowda himself expelled Hegde from the party. I swear in the name of Lord Venkateshwara that Gowda, who convened a meeting of myself and other state ministers K N Nage Gowda, Bhyre Gowda, Siddaramaiah, P G R Sindhia and his then close associate B L Shankar at the prime minister's residence in Delhi till 3 am the next morning, stuck to his insistence that Hegde should be expelled. Gowda insisted on removing Hegde for a personal comment made by Hegde against him. He then summoned the then party national president Lalu Prasad Yadav in that unearthly hour and got the letter of expulsion prepared by Shankar and signed by him. I was part of the proceedings and I can vouch for what happened then," said labour minister B N Bacche Gowda, lambasting Deve Gowda by using singular explicits.

"Deve Gowda never got involved with agricultural activities. Still, he claims to be the son of the soil. The Gowda family owns a large stretch of the land in Padmanabhnagar in the city. He claims to be the champion of the farmers but has annexed 80 acres of land by the side of the road laid by the NICE for himself," Bacche Gowda alleged. This is the way Deve Gowda achieves the welfare of the farmers, he ridiculed. He also said that the only farming Gowda family indulged in has been politics, from where they have reaped lot of harvests.

Deve Gowda has been an anti-Lingayat since his early days in politics. He has never been tired of targeting Lingayats even now. He continues his tirade against Lingayat leaders since the times of Veerendra Patil till today's leader Yeddyurappa," Bacche Gowda said.