BENGALURU: The barbs and jibes just never seem to end between Congress and JDS coalition leaders. A day after Higher Education Minister GT Devegowda absolved the BJP of having anything to do with the crisis in Karnataka politics, JDS MLA and former state President H Vishwanath blamed Siddaramaiah for not doing enough to ensure the coalition works.
On Wednesday Vishwanath, who resigned from the post of JDS State President recently, raised eyebrows when he visited BJP MP Srinivas Prasad’s residence in New Delhi. While both leaders hail from the old Mysuru region and have been colleagues in the Congress, presence of two more BJP MPs BY Raghavendra and GS Basavraju raised questions over the intent of the meeting.
Talking to the media after his breakfast meeting with Prasad, Vishwanath in his quintessential style passed jibes at Siddaramaiah.“A national party like Congress and a regional party like JDS coming together is an experiment and it should be a success. However, leaders of both parties don’t seem to be taking the initiative on ensuring it is a success. Siddaramaiah should have been more aware. He is the coordination committee chief and should take up additional responsibilities,” Vishwanath said accusing leaders of not doing enough to keep the coalition stable.
Meanwhile, back home in Karnataka too the bickering doesn’t seem to stop. At a time when leaders of the coalition should ideally be sitting together and solving matters, no over efforts are being made to keep the house in order. While Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is abroad, KPCC Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao is also on an international tour. JDS Supremo HD Deve Gowda has called for a meeting of party workers but hasn’t reached out to legislators of the Congress. Siddaramaiah meanwhile chose to visit Mysuru and hold a meeting at his son’s constituency Varuna.
Sources were speculating about the need for Vishwanath to meet BJP leaders. They said Vishwanath was seeking to get a ‘post’ for his close relative. They also claimed that he was exploring options to jump ship to BJP. One source said that if a large number of legislators make the switch, then Vishwanath would join them. Vishwanath was not available for comment.