Vishwanath resigns as JD(S) state chief

Hits out at ex-CM Siddaramaiah

Upset for not being made part of coordination committee, senior leader A H Vishwanath on Tuesday resigned as state JD(S) president.

Though he cited the party’s debacle as the reason for his decision, he hit out at coordination committee chairman and his political bete noire Siddaramaiah for blocking his entry into the panel. He also charged the Congress leader with harassing Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and not allowing him to run the coalition government effectively.

Vishwanath, who is also JD(S) MLA from Hunsur, (Mysuru district) however, said he had no plans to quit the party. He said he will continue to serve both his party and people of the constituency loyally. His move has come amid speculation that he along with Higher Education Minister G T Deve Gowda would quit the JD(S) and join the BJP soon.

Addressing media persons, he accused Siddaramaiah of not ensuring proper coordination between the two coalition partners - the Congress and the JD(S).

“The panel is dancing to the tunes of Siddaramaiah. He has failed to draft a common minimum programme for the smooth functioning of the coalition government,” he said.

“JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda lost Tumkur parliamentary seat because of the Congress’ ploy. He wanted to contest from Mysore, but was forced to go to Tumkur. Similarly, Nikhil, son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, lost in Mandya because of non-cooperation from the local Congress leaders and workers,” Vishwanath said.

Kumaraswamy has been facing hurdles right from Day One. Except for two to three departments, the administration has not been effective. Siddaramaiah has been controlling everything.

Despite ill-health, the chief minister has been running the coalition government, he added.

Sources close to Vishwanath said he was miffed with the JD(S) leadership for not exerting pressure on the Congress to make him part of the panel. Besides, he was upset with Gowda and Kumaraswamy for not taking him into confidence while distributing the tickets to contest the recently held Lok Sabha and urbal local body polls, especially in Mysuru.

Later, PWD Minister H D Revanna and his son-Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna is learnt to have tried to convince Vishwanath to withdraw his resignation.

The father-son duo spoke to Vishwanath separately over phone and asked him to continue leading the state unit. But Vishwanath refused to budge from his stand, the sources said.