BENGALURU: Veteran leader A H Vishwanath joined the JD(S) party on Tuesday after resigning from the Congress party last month in the presence of party supremo Deve Gowda and state president H D Kumaraswamy. Vishwanath, a staunch loyalist of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was disgruntled with the Congress over being sidelined from all party activities and being neglected.
After joining the JD(S), Vishwanath said that his agenda of ensuring social justice to everyone had not changed.“I will show the same loyalty to JD(S) that I had for Congress and will travel across the state to bring JD(S) to power,” he stated.He also recounted how when Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister in 2006, he had appreciated him.
“Now I have the opportunity to work with him.I received an invitation from the party leaders three months back to join the party.” He added, “I later held talks with Basavaraj Horatti, Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy and was convinced that I should join the party.”
Thirty other leaders, including ex-MLAs H D Basavaraj, Basavaraj Kannur and other leaders like A S Chennabasappa and Somasundaram from Mysuru Congress wing also joined the party.
Kumaraswamy said “I know how much he has suffered. He has worked tirelessly for 40 years for the party (Congress). His presence in our party will strengthen our efforts in Mysuru region,” he added.
Mocking BJP and Congress for their surveys, he said that even he had conducted his own survey and had a clear idea where JD(S) stood in the run- up to the elections.