Negative campaign did me in, says Vishwanath

He cites ‘shifting’ of JD(S) votes to Cong. as another reason

Former Minister A.H. Vishwanath has blamed the “negative campaign” by Opposition parties over his role in bringing down the coalition government and the shifting of JD(S) votes to Congress among the reasons for his defeat in the byelections to the Assembly from Hunsur constituency.

In his first election as a BJP candidate, he lost to the Congress party’s H.P. Manjunath by a margin of more than 39,000 votes.

Speaking to reporters in Hunsur after the results were announced, Mr. Vishwanath singled out former Minister and JD(S) leader G.T. Deve Gowda for the alleged role the latter played in the victory of the Congress candidate.

He lashed out at Mr. Gowda for extending support to the Congress even while he was in the JD(S). “He has betrayed the JD(S) while being in the party. He has worked for the Congress against the JD(S) candidate,” Mr. Vishwanath said before adding that he (Mr. Vishwanath) had toppled the coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy only after resigning from the Assembly. “But, Mr. Gowda has betrayed the JD(S) even as he continues in the party.”

No remorse

Mr. Vishwanath betrayed no remorse over his role in bringing down the Congress-JD (S) coalition government. “It was an incapable government. It had to be removed and a new government had to be installed. The new government headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will now be stable for the remaining three-and-a-half years with the blessings of the newly elected 12 BJP MLAs”, he said.

The call given by former Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy, besides litterateur Devanur Mahadev to defeat the “defectors” had been comprehensively rejected by the people, he said.

Fielding questions on his political future, Mr. Vishwanath said he will continue to work for the people of Hunsur. The words of promise to take up development works including the proposal to create a D. Devaraj Urs district will be taken forward with the support of the BJP government, he said.

Meanwhile, former Minister and BJP’s Mysuru rural district president M. Shivanna said the party’s grassroot workers in Hunsur had worked hard for Mr. Vishwanath and the result had defied their expectations.

However, he was hopeful that the BJP’s Central and State leadership will ‘reward’ Mr. Vishwanath with a suitable post keeping in the mind the crucial role he had played in the removal of the coalition government.