JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy remarked on Monday that the Congress fears regional parties, a dig at the grand old party’s head Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of such parties.

He urged the previous Congress president to elucidate to regional parties on ideological commitment in an apparent mocking tone, even though the national party has no presence in most country areas.

In the aftermath of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s death, the Congress deposed the IK Gujral-led United Front administration by insisting that the DMK be kept out of the Cabinet, alleging the Dravidian party’s ties to the LTTE. However, in the following years, the same Congress had a good political relationship with that party.

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“Is sharing power with the same DMK for ten years under Manmohan Singh’s UPA-1 and -2 administrations an ideological commitment?” he tweeted.

Mr. Gandhi argued that regional parties could not challenge the BJP and the RSS because they lacked philosophy in his speech at his party’s “Chintan Shivir” (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur. He had said that Congress might oppose them.

Noting Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that the Congress has the strength to beat the BJP on its own, the former Chief Minister reminded him that his party ruled for ten years based on regional parties.

“Is it an ideological commitment to join hands (with BJP) for the unethical ‘Lotus’ operation via the back door, after coming to our (JD-S) door with an alliance proposition and creating a coalition government with us? Is it ideology-based politics to undermine coalition partners? “He went on to challenge the Congress.

Following a hung election result in 2018, the Congress and the JD(S), which ran separate elections, joined forces to create a coalition government in Karnataka led by Mr. Kumaraswamy.

After 14 months, however, the administration disintegrated owing to internal friction, with MLAs from both parties quitting and joining the BJP.

Kumaraswamy said that Congress fears regional parties “It is absent from most states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha. In Karnataka, the Congress is in its last days. It would be preferable if Rahul Gandhi realized this.”