Hitting out at Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, the BJP on Saturday dubbed him as an "accidental CM" over his decision to go abroad with his family to celebrate the New Year at a time when many parts of the state were reeling under drought.

''After new govt was formed 377 farmers have ended their lives 156 talukas declared drought-hit, loan waiver has still not been done, Karnataka has slipped to a debt-ridden state & here we have the so-called son of soil CM @hd_kumaraswamy celebrating new year in Singapore (sic)," the Karnataka unit of the BJP said in a tweet.

Kumaraswamy, with his family, is scheduled to go on a personal visit to Singapore on Saturday night and would return on the night of January 1, 2019, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

The acerbic tweets from BJP came after the Chief Minister's office confirmed that Kumaraswamy was going abroad with family on a personal visit and would return to Bengaluru on January 1.

News agency IANS, however, quoted a government official as saying that the Chief Minister flew to Singapore with his wife Anita and son Nikhil on a holiday as "he has been going every year-end over the years".

A hung verdict in the May 12 assembly elections forced the Congress to forge an alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and form a coalition government on May 23 after the 3-day BJP government fell on May 19 due to lack of a majority.

It fell short of seven members for a simple majority (111) in the 224-member House, with two vacancies and one Speaker.

The BJP has coined the phrase 'Accidental CM' on the lines of a yet-to-be-released Bollywood biopic 'Accidental PM' on the life of former UPA Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, played by Hindi popular star Anupam Kher.