Former Minister B.T. Lalitha Naik ruled that former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda had shunned his secular credentials and embraced the saffron brigade.
Speaking at Kuvempu Kranti Kahale 50, a programme to mark 50 years of delivery of two speeches by the poet laureate calling people to shun sectarianism and embrace reason, she said as Kannadigas it was a matter of pride for someone from the State to have occupied the post of the Prime Minister. But the pride has been dashed. Though it is his son H.D. Kumaraswamy who has embraced the BJP, Mr. Deve Gowda should have opposed it, she added.
Referring to the circulation of the phrase “coronation’’ in certain quarters in the event Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister again, Ms. Naik said this would amount to regression to the days of Manu.
