Click to play videoBangalore: Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Sunday called Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa a “bastard” and then expressed “regret”.
"Who is this Yeddyurappa? Bastard! Who the hell does Yeddyurappa think he is? Does he have any shame?" said Gowda at Hemmigepura village, where farmers were protesting against land acquisition for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.
Gowda, said he supported the farmers "to demand justice" for them. Farmers are protesting for the last three days accusing the BJP government of colluding with Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) and not properly compensating the farmers who have lost land to the project.
The outburst by the The President of the Janata Dal-Secular and a former state chief minister came while reacting to questions on the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project.
Gowda has accused the NICE of acquiring land illegally and not paying farmers adequately. The state government had cleared a highway linking Bangalore to Mysore and had allowed NICE to develop a township along the highway.
Gowda alleged that NICE is grabbing land with the backing of the state government. The state government on the other hand has said that the BMIC project was the "illegitimate child" of the JD-S government.
Yeddyurappa on his part told CNN-IBN he felt hurt at Gowda's comments.
"This is not the first time he has said something like this. It does not suit him to use such language and if he has said things then he should have evidence with him to prove them. He says he did not use the words for me but it is on all channels, it’s not hidden so he cannot deny it. Right now I am not thinking on the lines of taking any action against him," Yeddyurappa told CNN-IBN.
But Karnataka's Law Minister Suresh Kumar said the Bharatiya Janata Party is considering taking Gowda to court.
“We, as a party, have decided that it is a disgrace to the office of Prime Minister and Chief Minister and that we will seriously think of moving to a court of law,” said Kumar.
Angry BJP workers shouted slogans and burnt effigies of Deve Gowda.
"Deva Gowda is a defeated politician of Karnataka and in frustration, has lost his mental balance because, in a democracy, nobody has the right to use this sort of unparliamentary language. It's really sad that somebody who has held the office of the prime minister of the country has stopped so low as to use abusive language against his political rival," said BJP National General Secretary and In-charge of State Affairs Balbir Punj.
Meanwhile, an embarrassed Deve Gowda back-tracked on the abusive language he used.
After first claiming on Sunday night that the abuses he hurled were meant in fact for the state's advocate general and not B S Yeddyurappa, he later said, "I have never used such language in over five decades of his public life and I was provoked into making that statement after seeing the plight of farmers."
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