Member of Legislative Council Adaguru H. Vishwanath said in Belagavi on Sunday that he is an aspirant for Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha elections from Mysuru-Madikeri constituency.
Mr. Vishwanath was among the 17 defectors from various parties who joined the BJP to help it form the government in the State in 2019. He later became a BJP MLC.
“People keep asking me if I am an aspirant for Congress ticket from Mysuru. I ask them why not? I have been a Congress MP in the past. I have been a Congress worker for 40 years. I rose from the grassroots to the top level leadership in that party. I had to quit the party for various reasons. But those issues no longer matter now. I am not a member of any party. I am an independent MLC. I am planning to seek Congress ticket from Mysuru for the parliamentary polls,” he said.
He was speaking to journalists after a Shepherds India Association national conference organising committee meeting.
“I can say with full confidence that party politics is dead. Now-a-days, politics based on individual charisma is the trend. Parties are being recognised based on individual leaders. When party politics is dead, the internal democracy of parties is dead too,” he said.
To a query, he said that he might have changed parties, but his pro-poor agenda is intact.
Mr. Vishwanath said that Ministers in the BJP government had taken kickbacks for projects worth ₹1.5 lakh crore before elections. “Who should settle those bills? Why are the BJP leaders talking about the responsibility of the Congress government to settle those bills?” he said.
“The BJP-led dispensation was an anti-people government. Its leaders were arrogant. They did not help the people. That is why the people of this State defeated them and avenged the maladministration, corruption and price rise. The BJP neither came to power on its own in the State nor does it have any future here. Once it came to power on the shoulders of Janata Dal(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy and at another time, on the shoulders of the defectors. It will not come to power again,” he said.
He said that the allegations by BJP leaders about corruption in the Congress government are not convincing enough. “No one is believing them. Also, those who make allegations should be clean. The BJP leaders clearly know that they were defeated because of their corruption,” he said.
“Mr. Kumaraswamy is making allegations of corruption too. But someone should ask him about his assets and how they were earned,” Mr. Vishwanath said.
He refused to answer questions about reports of infighting amongst BJP leaders in Belagavi.
To a query, he said that he will advise Ramesh Jarkiholi to “learn some lessons from the past and move on.”
