The Karnataka coalition partners should not blame the BJP for trying to destabilise the government when there are hints of their own lawmaker (JDS) scripting the resignation and threat drama. Vishwanath's meeting with BJP leader V Srinivas Prasad and Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy points to what was being planned well in advance to destabilise the coalition
Bengaluru: Both the Congress and JD(S) are blaming the BJP of engineering defections among their MLAs and trying to dislodge the 13-month-old Karnataka coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy. However, the missing link in the entire drama is H Vishwanath.
According to sources, it is former Karnataka JD(S) president Vishwanath who hatched a plan. He is said to have scripted the resignation spree in which senior leader Ramalinga Reddy was roped in to exert pressure on the government.
On May 9, Vishwanath met Karnataka BJP vice president V Srinivas Prasad and the meeting was termed as a "courtesy visit". Both the leaders were in Congress and after their differences with Siddaramaiah, broke away from Congress. While Vishwanath joined the JD(S), Prasad joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested Assembly by-election in Nanjangud near Mysuru.
Vishwanath had planned to switch to the BJP from the last few months after reportedly ill-treated by minister Sa Ra Mahesh. He had decided to resign and to have a better say, he garnered support from Reddy and disgruntled MLAs both in Congress and JD(S) and join the BJP.
Terming this development as unfortunate, the JD(S) national spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed said, “Vishwanath has been known as a secular, democratic and a person who respects the Constitution. In his last leg of political career, his actions are really uncalled for. Many young politicians will look up to him. His personal differences with Siddaramaiah, Sa Ra Mahesh and chief minister HD Kumaraswamy should be ignored and ironed out to save democracy and protect the secular fabric of Karnataka."
By addressing this factor of Vishwanath’s differences, the JD(S) has hinted that it was Vishwanath who played a pivotal role in this latest resignation drama that captured the national headlines from the last four days.
Lashing out at the leaders for blackmailing the government, Congress spokesperson Kengal Shreepada Renu said the people who moved out from the party on flimsy grounds and on perceived mistreatment and 'hurt' are damaging the party.
"The trend started with SM Krishna who joined the BJP by using the same excuses. He was brought in from nowhere by former chief minister Kengal Hanumanthaiah and was made a minister in the Devraja Urs Cabinet. The Congress party made him Union minister, but later he blamed the party for ignoring. He and few leaders wanted power always. Now the same kind of greed for power is seen among other leaders. The leaders should pass on the baton to second-line leaders," said Shreepada Renu.
He further added that the BJP that was always trying to destabilise the government will be more than be happy as they are being served another opportunity on a platter.
The BJP said Kumaraswamy’s "luck" will end as the government will collapse. Karnataka BJP general secretary CT Ravi who denied the saffron party’s hand in the political crisis, said, "The alliance was not a pre-poll one. Rahul Gandhi called the JD(S) as the BJP's ‘B’ team and HD Deve Gowda termed Siddaramaiah as "drohi" (traitor). After the results they came together only for power. The differences are coming out in the open and hence the government will collapse."
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