Bangalore:
Political rivalry can sometimes turn very bitter. And in Karnataka it would seem to have reached new depths.
PGR Sindhia is a former home minister and a veteran politician with the Janata Dal Secular in Karnataka. DK Shivakumar is a Congress MLA and former state working party president who had nursed hopes of becoming chief minister of the state.
The two came directly into election conflict when they both stood for the Kanakapura seat in the recently held assembly elections - a seat Mr Shivakumar won. And Congressmen who left the party to support Mr Sindhia say the winner is turning vindictive against them. One Mr Sindhia supporter, GH Prakash says Mr Shivakumar's people have gone to the extent of digging a ditch around his house because he transferred his loyalties.
"It is difficult for us to get out of the house. The day they did this we went to the police station, they said we are helpless," Mr Prakash told NDTV.
"This Prakash was Mr DK Shivakumar's follower for a long time. And because he left him along with 20, 30 others like that - every one of them is picked up like this and they are being troubled and tortured," said Mr Sindhia, adding "That has been his nature. Right from the beginning he always creates a kind of fear in his rivals. And that is how he has succeeded. We have seen the black days of Emergency. I was myself behind bars for 20 months. So I am not afraid personally for all these things."
Was this vindictive behaviour or done in innocence? Mr Shivakumar, who was denied a cabinet berth because of earlier allegations of corruption against him, denies any vendetta - and says the land where the ditch was dug belongs to him and there was just a wall being constructed there. He said Mr Sindhia was just feeling bitter because he had lost the election and the allegations were politically motivated.
Politics is often seen as a game in which there are no holds barred. But digging a trench around the house of a rival - that would seem to be plumbing new depths.