BENGALURU: From a self-proclaimed 'helpless' chief minister limited by the compulsions of the coalition, HD Kumaraswamy seemed to have come a long way to deliver a fiery speech on Tuesday.
In his last few hours as Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy may have asserted his leadership and achievements far more effectively than he ever did in the past 14 months.
From breaking into tears, expressing helplessness at public rallies, to reiterating that he was a victim of circumstances and landing himself in the centre of all jokes about the coalition's purportedly messy governance, Kumaraswamy had been contributing to the frail and ineffective image being built around the coalition.
On Tuesday, in his swansong that lasted almost two hours, Kumaraswamy went all out to defend his government, highlight its achievements, shoot down allegations made by the rebel MLAs, and more importantly, show the BJP what is in store for it.
"We may have delayed proceedings for four days. We perhaps had some self-interest in it too. We were hoping that people may make a course correction and make amends if we dragged the proceedings for some time," a candid Kumaraswamy confessed.
With nothing more to lose, Kumaraswamy, who has been mocked in the past, even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling himself helpless, poured his heart out.
"Don't speak ill of HD Deve Gowda. Diss me as much as you like. He didn't grow in any party or person's shadow. You accuse him of conspiring to destabilise democracy. Don't talk of him lightly. I don't say this only because he is my father. He has always identified himself as a father of a farmer," Kumaraswamy said, defending JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda.
Speaking of his wife, father, brother and son, Kumaraswamy played the perfect family man even as he listed out everything his government has done for all constituencies, including those of the rebel MLAs.
"Rs 260 crore have been released for Ramesh Jarkiholi's constituency; Rs 157 crore for Mahesh Kumathalli's Athani; Rs 175 crore for Anand Singh's region; Rs 136 crore for Chikkaballapur represented by Sudhakar; Rs 147 crore for Hirekerur represented by BC Patil; Rs 113 crore for R Shankar's Ranebennur; Rs 303 crore for Nagesh's Mulbagal; Rs 517 crore for Maski represented by Pratapgouda Patil; Rs 413 crore for Hebbar's constituency; Rs 132 crore for MTB's locality; Rs 339 crore for Byrathi Basavaraj's constituency; Rs 559 crore for Muniratna's constituency; Rs 424 crore for Gopalaiah's constituency; Rs 304 crore for Vishwanath's constituency for developmental work," Kumaraswamy said, giving out numbers to demolish the rebels' claims that the government had been refusing funds.
The agenda was clear for Kumaraswamy: An all-out attack on all forces that had destabilised his government. The coalition government had only spoken of farm loan waiver so far, but on Tuesday, Kumaraswamy, while hailing officers like INS Prasad and Munish Moudgil, listed out everything his government had done.
"Was I biased towards Kodagu during floods because they didn't vote for me? We gave special funds to Kodagu without thinking twice whether the Centre's share would come or not. We have built houses for those who lost homes and are even paying rent for those who haven't been able to get a house. In a year, Rs 100 crore has been used from the CM's Relief Fund for the poor. We set up English medium schools to ensure our rural children don't face problems of the language barrier. After the death of one child who was washed away due to the lack of a bridge, this government build hundreds of foot overbridges to ensure no child faces this difficulty," he said.
He went after the BJP, the rebel MLAs and even the media for constantly wishing his government away, even as he insisted that he was not the one to cling to power.
"BJP should stake claim to form a government only if they have a simple majority. Let us see what happens to you within one week of forming your cabinet. Let's see how long your government will last," Kumaraswamy warned, in a parting shot to the BJP.