Key Points

Responding to media queries in Kolhar in Vijayapura district, Shivakumar, asked about Kumaraswamy’s allegation that the Deputy CM himself had leaked information regarding the gold smuggling case involving Kannada actress Ranya Rao, retorted: "Kumaraswamy is mentally unstable. He must be suffering from psychological issues. He has lost his mind."

On Kumaraswamy’s repeated criticism over the change of the name of Ramanagara district to Bengaluru South, he said: "Why has Kumaraswamy come to Ramanagara district to do politics? Why didn’t he continue in Hassan? First, let him drop his own name, H.D. Kumaraswamy, which includes both his hometown and his father’s name. Let him change that first."

The initial 'H' represents Haradanahalli, and 'D' stands for Deve Gowda. Haradanahalli is located in the Hassan district.

Kumaraswamy, who hails from Hassan, represented the Ramanagara Assembly seat for a long time. His son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, was defeated by the Congress candidate in the last assembly election from Ramanagara.

Shivakumar went on to add: "We are from the Bengaluru district. Every place has its own history. Why was Madras renamed Chennai? Gulbarga was renamed Kalaburagi. We, too, have our aspirations. Why does that bother him (Kumaraswamy)?"

Responding to the accusation that the name change was done for real estate gains, he said: "Yes, we want development in our village. Everyone should get employment. Property values for our people should increase. Every farmer should benefit. People from outside the state and country should come and invest. Our aim is development."

"The parliamentary constituency was once called Kanakapura. Later, it was renamed Bengaluru Rural. Why was that done? We are not changing the name of Ramanagara itself. Ramanagara will remain the district headquarters. We are only changing the name of the district," he said.

Asked about reports linking his name, his brother D.K. Suresh’s, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s name to the National Herald case, Shivakumar said: "It is a newspaper run by our party. Both Suresh and I have given Rs 25 lakh to it. We have also given donations from our trust."

On whether the donation could cause them trouble, he said: "We gave the money in a dignified manner, from hard-earned wealth. We have not donated any ill-gotten money."

- IANS