Opposition leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and JD(S) State President H D Kumaraswamy, on Sunday advocated the need for unity among leaders of erstwhile Janata party to fight criminalisation of politics.

Speaking at the celebration of the 70th birthday of veteran leader M P Prakash, Siddaramaiah said the leaders have to work together against growing criminalisation and use of money power in politics. “Talk of re-uniting all Janata Parivar leaders may be far-fetched, but the time has come for all of them to work together to fight criminalisation of politics,” he stated.

Be it Siddaramaiah, KPCC President R V Deshpande, JD(S) Working President P G R Sindhia, former minister M P Prakash, MLAs Amaregouda Byapura, H S Mahadeva Prasad, most of the leaders on the dais at the Jnanajyoti auditorium in the Central college, were associated with erstwhile Janata party.

“Never in the history of State Legislature, did such an incident happen. It is an attack on democracy. Politicians from Bellary are doing all wrong things in the name of dharma,” he further said, indirectly referring to the way Bellary Reddy brothers and their followers behaved in the Assembly on Friday. He, however, ruled out the possibility of reviving the erstwhile Janata Party.

Request for leadership

Kumaraswamy went a step ahead and urged M P Prakash to take the leadership to cleanse the spoilt political atmosphere in the State. “Bellary politics has done a lot of damage to the State...I request all Janata Parivar leaders to join hands and fight this menace,” he stated.

Deshpande said people should take utmost care while electing their representative, lest criminals sneak into legislatures using their money power, as it has been happening of late.

This apart, all leaders, including Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna, BJP State President K S Eshwarappa, and Pejawar Mutt pontiff  Visvesha Theertha hailed Prakash as a friendly and a multi-faceted person. Prakash was felicitated on the occasion.