Vishwanath firm on quitting as JDS state president

PTI, Jun 21, 2019, 10:23 AM IST

Bengaluru: Firm in his resolve to quit as JD(S) state president, A H Vishwanath, MLA, Thursday threatened to resign from the assembly if party chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda did not accept his resignation.

Pressuring Gowda to relieve him, Vishwanath said “You have to accept my resignation today. Else, I will have to consider resigning from (my) Hunsur assembly constituency.

The situation is difficult. Hence, you should not feel pained. I can face anybody but I lack strength to face you.”

The JD(S) leadership has been refusing to accept his resignation.

Deve Gowda has been repeatedly saying they would persuade Vishwanath to drop his plans to resign.

The JDS supremo told reporters Thursday that Vishwanath was the leader of backward communities and he would urge him to continue as the JD(S) state chief.

Vishwanath had announced his resignation as JD(S) state president a fortnight ago, flaying the functioning of the coalition government besides taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha election.

He was also aggrieved as he was excluded from the coordination committee of the coalition parties in the government, which is led by former chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Vishwanath Thursday again targeted Siddaramaiah questioning his credentials as ‘AHINDA’ leader (AHINDA stands for minority, backward and Dalits in Kannada).

“You call your self AHINDA leader but you got your Muslim leader Roshan Baig suspended. You did not give portfolio to independent MLA H Nagesh, who is a Dalit.

How come you are a coordination committee chairman?”

Condemning the suspension of Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig for “anti-party” activities, Vishwanath alleged that Siddaramaiah had tried to suspend him when he was in the Congress.

“He wanted to suspend me also. The suspension letter was ready. The development made me to resign and get out of the party. You are out to trample a section of people….It is bad to destroy a leader,” Vishwanath said.

Hitting out at Congress leaders for the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls, Baig, a MLA from Shivajinagar, had recently held Siddaramaiah’s “arrogance” and KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao’s “immaturity” responsible for the “flop show.”

He also called AICC general secretary K C Venugopal a “buffoon.”

The Congress Tuesday suspended Baig for “anti-party” activities.