Karnataka Congress asks party spokespersons to defend CM HD Kumaraswamy

"We have been told to defend the chief minister as well as the government because he is now our partner in the government. We cannot leave certain matters to the JD(S)spokesperson to deal with," a Congress spokesperson told PTI.

Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao held a meeting with party spokespersons here and asked them to defend the coalition government and partner JD(S) whenever they participate in television debates or give statements to the media, top Congress sources said.

The meeting comes in the wake of a teary-eyed Kumaraswamy saying he was not happy in the top post and was "swallowing the pain like Vishakantha (Lord Shiva)," who drank poison.

The spokesperson said the incident of chief minister "crying" in public was cited as an example in the meeting.

"We were told that whenever a situation like this (chief minister in tears) arises, we must explain to our audience that the chief minister is an emotional person and we all have been sincerely cooperating with him," he said.

The meeting also deliberated on drawing strategies for the Lok Sabha polls, where they may have to counter "lies spread through social media" besides dealing with arguments of the BJP during news debates, party sources said.