Bengaluru, April 11 (IANS): JD-S President H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said that the Vokkaliga community is keeping track of all the statements of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and they will respond to him.

“I have never misused the name of the mutt or the community pontiff. I need not learn from Shivakumar. His statements are being watched and observed by the Vokkaliga community,” he said.

He said that why would a religious pontiff question the collapse of any government?

“What is the connection between a pontiff and politics? Why would the Swamiji talk about the collapse of the government? Religiously, Swamiji is our pontiff, why would he be used for political purposes? Kumaraswamy questioned.

Kumaraswamy said the Congress had attempted to use the influence of the religious pontiff.

Reacting to the statement that JD-S won’t even win a seat in the Lok Sabha election, Kumaraswamy said Shivakumar had mistakenly taken the name of JD-S and NDA candidates.

“He must have intended to speak about his Congress,” he said.

Following a delegation of NDA candidates visiting the Adichunchanagiri Mutt, the spiritual centre of Vokkaligas on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar said that the “pontiff is a wise man and will not get involved in politics.”

“I am sure he will not be involved in any politics. It is also a known fact that the JD-S supremo (Deve Gowda) divided the Vokkaliga mutt earlier,” Shivakumar said.

The Vokkaliga community plays an influential role in south Karnataka. Shivakumar and Kumaraswamy both hail from the same community.