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DK Shivakumar lashed out at HD Kumaraswamy over the allegation that he tipped off ED about Ranya Rao’s smuggling case details.
Shivakumar slams Kumaraswamy over Ranya Rao case allegation (PTI Image)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday lashed out at Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy over his allegations in connection with Ranya Rao’s smuggling case, and said that the former CM has “lost his mental balance”.
“Kumaraswamy is mental. He has lost his mental balance,” Shivakumar said, replying to Kumaraswamy’s allegation that the DCM had tipped off ED about Ranya Rao’s smuggling case details.
Taking on Kumaraswamy, his arch political rival Shivakumar reacted to a series of tweets from Kumaraswamy on the renaming of Ramanagara.
He questioned: “Why did Kumaraswamy come to Ramanagara to do politics? Why did he not do politics in his home district of Hassan? Why hasn’t he removed the initials in his name, which refer to his father’s name and his village’s name?”
“We are from Bengaluru district. Names of places have significance. Why was Madras changed to Chennai, and Gulbarga to Kalaburagi? The people of the district too have their aspirations. Is it bothering anyone?”
When asked about the allegation that the renaming of Ramanagara was done for real estate gains, the Karnataka deputy CM said, “Yes, we want the values of our farmers’ land to go up. We want our people to get more jobs. We want investors to come and develop this place, that is our dream.”
Explaining how the parliamentary constituency was earlier called Kanakapura, he said, “Why was it changed to Bengaluru Rural? We are not changing the name of Ramanagara, it will continue to be the district headquarters. We are only changing the name of the district.”
The name of the Ramanagara district was recently changed to Bengaluru South district through a cabinet decision. Shivakumar kept his word to the people of Bengaluru’s neighbouring district.
Ramanagara district was previously known as Bangalore Rural district until it was renamed by HD Kumaraswamy during his tenure as chief minister from 2006 to 2008.
After the cabinet meeting cleared the proposal to rename Ramanagara, Shivakumar said, “I am happy to say that the entire cabinet discussed the issue. Ramanagara district was earlier part of Bengaluru district. The headquarters will remain in Ramanagara, but the name will be changed to ‘Bengaluru South District’ for all administrative purposes. Just because it’s 30 km, 80 km, or 100 km away, it will still be called Bengaluru South.”
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