Rebels watched proceedings on TV in Pune

Rebel Congress and JD(S) legislators were in Pune on Tuesday. They watched proceedings of the Assembly on television.

Interestingly, Congress party workers staged a protest in front of the hotel in Mumbai where they were camping all these days, presuming that they were inside the hotel. There were rumours that the legislators were flown to Delhi.

Hunsur JD(S) MLA A H Vishwanath confirmed that all rebel legislators were in Pune and they watched the proceedings on television.

“We will soon come to Bengaluru,” he said.

He said that rebel legislators were anxious till the last minute as anything could have happened.

“The state has seen the end of the politics of agendas,” he said.

On Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s scathing attack on him, Vishwanath said, “There is always a reaction to any action. I wish to clarify that I did not defect, but resigned. My resignation is a dissent against the party leadership.”

Vishwanath alleged that Tourism Minister Sa Ra Mahesh was directly responsible for the collapse of the government.

“Many legislators were unhappy with him. It was a government for just 4-5 people. These people did not realise the importance of the government as power came to them easily,” he said.

The former JD(S) state president said that the way in which the party leaders conducted themselves triggered the trouble.

“Troubles began purely because of their conduct. We are not responsible for the collapse of the government,” he said.

Ramesh Jarkiholi said that the rebels would soon travel to Bengaluru and declined to comment much on the collapse of the government.