Gowda, Yeddyurappa escalate their war of words

In an escalation of war of words, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today accused JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda of instigating farmers to create law and order problems even as the former prime minister, whose abusive language against the former raised a political storm, vowed to take the fight for the farmers’ cause to the entire state.

Stepping up the attack against Gowda, who had called him ‘bloody bastard’ over the Bangalore-Mysore Express Highway project issue, Yeddyurappa asked the JD(S) chief: “What is your intention? Do you want to vitiate the law and order situation? Why are you losing your balance.”

He told reporters, “I have not heard in the post-independence era a former prime minister calling a chief minister a ‘bloody bastard’ and using other invectives. People are known for the decent, dignified and courteous behaviour.”

BJP workers have continued their protest against Gowda from Sunday, including burning his effigies, demanding apology for his remarks against him, Yeddyurappa counseled the people, particularly his party men, to end the stir. Launching a counter-attack against the BJP which had charged that the highway project was his baby, Gowda demanded a white paper on it to “Let people know what all deviations occurred since 1995 when I signed the MoU.”