Bangalore : Stoking a controversy with a no-holds barred personal attack on former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, KPCC President G Parameshwara today taunted the JDS chief over his alleged remark in the past that he would consume poison if his party did not win Assembly elections.

“Just nine months back, the senior Gowda had said we (JDS) will come to power in Karnataka on our own. He had said that if we don’t come to power on our own, I will consume poison and die. I am also waiting that he will take it today or tomorrow. He is not taking it,” Parameshwara said.

Mocking at Gowda at a roadshow here to drum up support for his party Lok Sabha candidates, Parameshwara, known as a sober leader, also said, “he is now saying this is his last election (from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency). He is saying this in Hassan, crying.”

Speaking more derisively about Gowda, he said the JDS chief had also said that he would like to be reborn as a Muslim in his bid to woo the voters from that community.

“Who wants the next birth. We do not know whether there is rebirth or not. Let him convert in this birth only…We will create a platform for it tomorrow itself…” he said.

Furious at Parameshwara’s remarks, Gowda said, “I will consume poison? What nonsense it is. He has been given Hassan charge, what non-sense. It does not befit the President of Indian National Congress of the state…..I have all the cuttings of the press statements… Who has said that.” Gowda also hit back at Parameshwara for his Muslim jibe, trashing it as “nonsense.”

He said former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had said he was born in a Muslim community.

“I only had said then that if it happens, let it happen.” “Aren’t they ashamed…Rubbish…If Sonia Gandhi has kept him (Parameshwara) for this job, so be it.” Gowda’s son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy slammed Parameshwara’s remarks, saying it showed his “perverted mindset and he wished ill for Gowda” “I do not know when Gowda had said he would take poison.

His (Parameshwara’s remarks) only show the culture of his party,” Kumaraswamy said.