Taking serious exception to the personal allegations levelled by Minister S.T.Somashekar against candidates from rival political parties in the ensuing elections to the Legislative Council from local bodies’ constituencies, former Minister and BJP MLC A.H. Vishwanath has called upon his party colleague to withdraw his words.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Vishwanath said Mr. Somashekar should bear in mind that he is a member of the State Cabinet and added that allegations he had levelled against JD(S) candidate in Mysuru-Chamarajanagar constituency C.N. Manje Gowda and Congress candidate in Bengaluru Urban constituency Yusuf Shariff, also known as KGF Babu, did not behove a person occupying a ministerial berth in the State Government.
He wondered how he could make such personal allegations without any basis and said the charges had hurt the candidates of the rival parties immensely.
Mr. Vishwanath also expressed regret over the influence money was playing in the ensuing elections to the Legislative Council.
He sought to remind the voters that most of them had been elected to the local bodies on their individual strength and did not owe their election to any political party. “You should not succumb to the temptations and freely exercise your franchise”, Mr. Vishwanath said while calling upon the leaders of all the three political parties to give a call against the use of money power in the elections.
To a question, Mr. Vishwanath ruled out the possibility of change of leadership again in the State. He said the BJP will go to polls in the next elections in the State under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Omicron
Mr. Vishwanath also expressed concern over the authorities keeping schools and colleges open despite the scare generated by the discovery of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19.
He called upon the government to ask the health experts to look into the matter seriously and take a decision on the right course of action to protect the health of the people, particularly school and college-going students.
