01:5001:5001:50How Congress responded to Kumaraswamy's tears

Budget

woes

NEW DELHI: After Karnataka chief minister (CM) HD Kumaraswamy literally broke down at a public event on Saturday, his party's coalition ally in the state government, the Congress, asked him to "be courageous" going ahead.On Saturday, at an event organised by the JD(S) to congratulate him on becoming CM, Kumaraswamy sobbed saying he's "swallowing the poison" of being in a coalition arrangement. He was referring mainly to the issue of waiving loans for farmers, something he'd said he'd do immediately upon becoming CM, were he to win.Senior Congress leader and Karnataka Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge said Kumaraswamy should look at the larger picture of supporting the cause of secularism, which is why the coalition came about to begin with."You've to face problems. Simply expressing won't give good message to people who supported secular parties. Kumaraswamy should be courageous to face such circumstances," said Kharge, reported news agency ANI.Meanwhile, Dr Sudhakar, a Congress legislator from Karnataka, said Kumaraswamy has been given "amrut" (nectar) by the Congress and not poison, like the CM claimed."Congress has given amrut (nectar) and not poison to Kumaraswamy by making him chief minister, despite his party winning just 37 seats. Being a CM, he shouldn't be crying, instead he should be wiping the tears of the common people. The Congress will give all cooperation to Kumaraswamy to run the government," Dr Sudhakar told reporters on Sunday.All of this is happening after Kumaraswamy presented his budget.On July 5, tabling his first budget, Kumaraswamy announced a farm loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakhs for farmers who have defaulted, and Rs 25,000 for those who have running accounts. That was far from his poll promise of a complete waiver. And the Kumaraswamy budget also saw an increase in taxation on the people.That's what appears to have bothered Kumaraswamy when he broke down."While you may be happy thinking that your 'Anna' or 'Thamma' (brother) has become the chief minister, let me tell you that I'm not. I'm swallowing my pain, which is nothing more than poison (of being the CM of a coalition), without sharing it. I'm not happy with the situation," he said at his felicitation event."For the last one month, nobody knows the jugglery I've been doing to convince officials to agree to the loan waiver. Now, they want 7kg rice instead of 5kg rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme. From where should I get Rs 2,500 crore for this? I'm being criticised for levying taxes. After all this, media says there's no clarity in my loan waiver scheme. If I wish, within two hours I can step down from the office," said Kumaraswamy.This isn't the first time Kumaraswamy has made a public statement about the difficulties of running a coalition government. In May, days after being sworn in to head the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, the CM said he's "at the mercy of the Congress and not (of) the 6.5 crore people" of Karnataka."Mine is not an independent government. I had requested the people to give me a mandate that prevents me from succumbing to any pressure other than you. But today I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state," Kumaraswamy said at the time.