Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday appealed to party workers and his followers to withdraw their protests against regional news channel TV5. The channel had aired a story on Wednesday claiming that Kumaraswamy will resign from his position on health grounds and will travel to London for treatment.
The channel also said that Kumaraswamy was going on leave from the last week of December for three months. The anchor of the bulletin repeatedly said that it was not fake news, even though it sounded unbelievable and repeatedly asserted that they had confirmed the news. The anchor went on to discuss when and how Kumaraswamy will resign and how the resignation is a foregone conclusion.
Kumaraswamy had rubbished the report saying that they were "far from truth". On Wednesday evening, he tweeted, “It is being reported that I am resigning due to illness in TV channel. The reports are far from the truth. All that was aired is without any proof.”
ಅನಾರೋಗ್ಯದ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಂದ ನಾನು ರಾಜೀನಾಮೆ ನೀಡಲಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಎಂದು ಕೆಲ ಟಿವಿ ಸುದ್ದಿ ವಾಹಿನಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಸಾರವಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸುದ್ದಿಯು ಸತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ದೂರವಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಪ್ರಸಾರವಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಎಲ್ಲ ಅಂಶಗಳು ಆಧಾರ ರಹಿತವಾಗಿವೆ.
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) November 28, 2018
Following this, protests broke out against the channel.
In a statement on Thursday, the CM said, “I respect the freedom of expression of the media in Indian democracy.I am not ill as telecasted in media. The blessings of God, my parents and the good wishes of the people of the state is the protection shield for me. My priority is to work for the people. Hence I appeal to the party workers not to be upset with such reports and to withdraw their protests immediately."
Incidentally on November 22, Kumaraswamy had said that he would not interact with journalists. The trigger was an alleged selective reportage by some TV channels of his speech at the launch of 'Badavara Bandhu' (an interest-free loan scheme for street vendors) in the APMC yard of Yeshwanthpur in Bengaluru.
He had said, “I am scared to talk about anything these days. We are in a situation in which perhaps, a committee should be constituted to form guidelines on how a Chief Minister speaks to the media. From now on, I will speak to the media from the stage; but I will limit the interactions to just that. I have come to a decision that I won’t address the press for any reason.”
Previously too, the CM had spoken openly about his dissatisfaction about media coverage of his government’s performance since May.