From Congress to Congress: A H Vishwanath may come 'full circle'

BJP MLC A H Vishwanath, who was in the Congress for nearly four decades, seems to be coming a full circle, literally, by returning to his parent party after small, fruitful stints in JD(S) and BJP.

Nominated as MLC under writers quota on July 22, 2020 when B S Yediyurappa was chief minister, Vishwanath began his political journey as a youth leader, under then-chief minister D Devaraja Urs in the 1970s. A prominent Kuruba leader, he was elected for the first time in 1978 as KR Nagar MLA.

Internal opposition

Vishwanath, who has been acting as an internal opposition force within the BJP from even before his nomination as party candidate for Hunsur bypoll in 2019, met former CM and present Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday. Since the past two decades, Siddaramaiah is a much bigger Kuruba leader, than Vishwanath. Only on Tuesday, he had met AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Vishwanath was complaining that Siddaramaiah effected his exit from Congress in 2017. “Siddaramaiah forced me, who facilitated his entry into Congress, to abandon the party. He has been backstabbing all those who helped him. He is an ungrateful person,” he said on multiple occasions.

The septuagenarian, a former minister and former MP, has won six elections and lost seven. Vishwanath is believed to have played a major role in pulling down the JD(S)-Congress coalition government on July 22, 2019.

In power

Among 10 Assembly polls that Vishwanath contested, he won four. He won in 1978, 1989, and 1999 from KR Nagar constituency, while he lost in 1983, 1985, 1994, 2004, and 2008. Later, he shifted to Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency, which he won in 2009 and lost in 2014. In 2018, he won from Hunsur, but was defeated in the 2019 bypoll, facilitated by his own resignation. Vishwanath was Minister for Kannada and Culture in 1989 and Education Minister in 1999.

On July 4, 2017, he joined the JD(S) and became its state president, shortly, on August 5, 2018. He resigned as president on June 4, 2019, and as MLA on July 6, 2019. He joined the BJP on November 14, 2019, and sought re-election as BJP candidate on December 5, 2019. The results were announced on December 9, 2019.

Disqualification

When Vishwanath resigned as Hunsur MLA on July 6, 2019, along with 14 other MLAs, then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar disqualified all of them just weeks later on July 28. The MLAs appealed against their disqualification before the Supreme Court, which upheld their disqualification on November 13, but allowed them to contest the bypolls on December 5.

A vehement critic of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and his sons H D Revanna and H D Kumaraswamy till he was in the Congress, Vishwanath started criticising Siddaramaiah, since he hinted at abandoning the Congress in 2017.

MLA Sa Ra Mahesh, who had defeated Vishwanath twice — in 2008 and 2013 — engineered his entry into JD(S). After Kumaraswamy became chief minister and Mahesh shot to prominence, Vishwanath had differences with Mahesh too. Their public spat continued till recently.

In BJP

Vishwanath’s complaints began since his induction into the BJP. He was unhappy with the government, ministers and fellow legislators and expressed it publicly. Initially, it was on getting a ticket to contest the bypoll from Hunsur in 2019. Once the ticket was given, his anger was with fellow party leaders and ministers, on campaigning, and later about his defeat, for which he blamed fellow party leaders and ministers. Then, while a first batch of MLCs were elected. After nomination, about not being made a minister.

And now, Vishwanath is making up with leaders like Siddaramaiah and strengthening his ties with leaders like Kharge and KPCC president D K Shivakumar.