The phrase Nikhil Yellidiyappa had haunted former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy all through the Lok Sabha campaign. On Wednesday, Mr. Kumaraswamy himself used a variant of it to taunt Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for being away when the State was facing floods.

“There are floods in many parts of Karnataka. I have to ask now Yellidiyappa Yediyurappa (where are you Yediyurappa)? Those who ran the Nikhil Yellidiyappa WhatsApp campaign too have to answer this,” he said, speaking at the Janata Dal (Secular) workers’ meeting organised on Palace Grounds here.

Nikhil Yellidiyappa had become a catch phrase after a video of a movie promotion campaign — where Mr. Kumaraswamy calls out to his actor-politician son K. Nikhil who is in the audience — went viral just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and was used to mock the father and son.

Taking a dig at Mr. Yediyurappa, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the coalition parties would have been at the receiving end if he had done a similar thing of being away during floods. “Whom should people seek help from during such times of crisis? Yours is a single-man ministry... You called our government irresponsible. Now people will know who is irresponsible,” he said.