Bengaluru,  Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D. K. Shivakumar on Wednesday said that he would maintain his cordial relationship with Janata Dal (S) second-in-command H. D. Kumaraswamy.

Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar conceded that at one point he detested Kumaraswamy a lot but now he has overcome that negative feeling. "We are humans, all of us have bad qualities and bad temperament. It is only that we have to overcome these negative thoughts in order to live in peace," he said.

In response to a question, Shivakumar said that as he has overcome his bad feelings, irrespective of any scenario, he considers Kumaraswamy will remain his friend.

"Why media terming him as my old friend? I did detest him in the past, but not anymore. I am not having any problems with him," he retorted.

Answering to another question, Shivakumar said that JD(S) as a political party has every right to align with any party it chooses. "I will not comment on their politics. I will not deride that party. JD(S) is also a party like us, they have the right to build their party. Why should we criticise the JD(S) we have taken their help whenever we wanted, just because they are not with us, it is not appropriate to criticise them now," he said.

Shivakumar's statements assumes significant, as ever since JD(S) and Congress coalition government collapsed in 2019, Kumaraswamy and Congress leader, Siddamraiah have continued to attack each other at every possible occasion, but Shivakumar has riled Kumarswamy much barring one or two occasions, that too mildly.