Congress workers and leaders joining the JD(S) in the presence of H.D. Kumaraswamy and G.T. Deva Gowda, MLA, in Mysuru on Wednesday.

H.D. Kumaraswamy, JD(S) State president, has accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of practising caste-based politics. He told a press conference on Wednesday that the “solidarity” expressed by a few Vokkaliga leaders of Chamundeshwari constituency for Siddaramaiah was done at the behest of the CM himself.

“Mr. Siddaramaiah has appealed for votes in the name of caste by pushing these so-called leaders of the community, and it betrays his mindset and true colours,” said Mr. Kumaraswamy. “If he was truly secular, why would he seek votes by appealing to their caste sentiments,” he asked. The CM would be living in a make-believe world if he imagined that the entire community would support him because of these “so-called leaders”, he added.

Mr. Kumaraswamy accused the Congress of trying to “buy” Vokkaliga leaders with money power, and said the party candidate G.T. Deve Gowda, who is seeking re-election from the constituency, the party workers and the public were “ready to teach Mr. Siddaramaiah a lesson for his arrogance”.

His political career, which began with a victory in this constituency, will end with his defeat here, quipped Mr. Kumaraswamy.

Responding to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s criticism that Deve Gowda never worked for the constituency, he said all the development work taken up by the CM were the schemes planned by Mr. Deve Gowda.

“It was Mr. Siddaramaiah who abandoned and fled from Chamundeshwari constituency after the delimitation in 2008,” he said in response to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s tweet that his opponents would flee the electoral battle field in Chamundeshwari.

On the party’s perceived focus on Mysuru, Mr. Kumaraswamy said it was not true that he was spending his energy more on Chamundeshwari and Varuna (where CM’s son Yathindra is likely to be the candidate), and the party was concentrating on all the 224 seats as it wishes to cross the 113-seat mark to form the government on its own strength.

The JD(S) president said there would be no impact of the Congress victory in the byelections held for Nanjangud and Gundlupet last year. “We had a similar scenario in 2003 when Congress won in Humnabad and Hungund but lost both the seats in the 2004 general elections,” he added.

Later, scores of Congress leaders and workers from the region joined the JD(S) in the presence of Mr. Kumaraswamy.