Karnataka news: K’taka Deputy CM Shivakumar rubbishes Kumaraswamy’s charge on screening porn films in cinema halls

Hitting back at JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy’s allegations that he screened porn films in the cinema halls he used to run, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said he will quit politics if the allegations are proved. Asking the former chief minister to come to the Kanakapura Personal segment of the Assembly and check with people about his involvement in any such activity, the Karnataka Congress chief called Kumaraswamy “a failed man”.

“I pity and pity Kumaraswamy. Being such a senior leader….why did he keep such a person (Shivakumar) in his cabinet (of Cong-JDS coalition govt)? Let him go visit my constituency. Let him ask the people of Kanakapura, if I am showing ‘blue films’,” Shivakumar said in response to a question.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, the people of Kanakapura elected me with a margin of more than 1.23 lakh votes in the assembly elections in May this year, which became “history” in Karnataka.

“He (Kumaraswamy) should go and ask the people of Kanakapura, whether Shivakumar did those things or not. If he proves or if anyone tells me that I did these kinds of illegal activities , I am ready to quit politics. Ask your own party workers (JDS), not my party. Shame on Mr Kumaraswamy, in his status as a former chief minister, he should not say such things,” he said, and added that people will laugh at the JD(S ) leader.

Kumaraswamy had recently alleged that Shivakumar was making a living by showing ‘blue films’ in the cinema tents (halls) he ran in Doddaalhalli (Shivakumar’s hometown) and nearby Sathanur in Kanakapura. “The people of the state have elected such people today, and the Congress has empowered such people….this is its culture,” Kumaraswamy said in a broadside against Shivakumar. Asked why neither the JD(S) leader nor his father and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda raised the issue when they fought him in the past, Shivakumar said the theater he owned was named after former Prime Minister Minister Indira Gandhi. “It was built in the memory of Indira ji. The theater (ownership) is in my name. I run the business and the theater shows. He (Kumaraswamy) is a frustrated person. When his father goes against me, he can have Said this (Shivakumar showing blue films) in public, or when he contests and loses against me, he can speak. Just now, there is an opportunity for him, when he comes for the campaign. Request to him to come and speak there (in Kanakapura),” he added.

Meanwhile, noting that the general secretary of the Congress in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, is coming to the city to discuss some party issues, Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, said all the issues including the appointment of party legislators and workers in the field state-run boards and corporations will take part in the talks.

“All the appointments cannot be made at once. It will be done in two to three stages, we will do it,” he said on the much-anticipated exercise.