A day after his nomination to the Legislative Council, former Minister A.H. Vishwanath paid a visit to Hunsur, the Assembly constituency from where he lost the by-polls held in December last year, and garlanded the statue of late Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs.
He told reporters in Hunsur that his nomination has ensured that Hunsur is represented by two legislators. The BJP government had nominated him in his capacity as a ‘writer’.
Pointing out that Hunsur was close to his heart as it was the Assembly segment which gave him political rebirth, Mr. Vishwanath hoped to set aside political differences and work for the welfare of Hunsur with the cooperation of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
It may be recalled that Mr. Vishwanath, who had been elected from Hunsur as a JD(S) candidate in 2018, was trounced by the Congress candidate H.P. Manjunath when he entered the electoral arena for the December 2019 by-polls as a BJP candidate. A long-time Congressman, Mr. Vishwanath was earlier contesting from adjoining K.R. Nagar Assembly constituency from where he was elected thrice and lost on five occasions.
In Mysuru, Mr. Vishwanath fielded queries on the speculation over his possible entry into the Yediyurappa Cabinet. “We will look into the issue later”, he said.
Mr. Vishwanath was one of the 17 coalition MLAs who resigned from the Assembly last year to bring down the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) government and paved the way for installation of the BJP government.
While most of the coalition MLAs, who had been re-elected to the Assembly in the subsequent by-polls, have joined the BJP Cabinet, Mr. Vishwanath could not make it as he had failed to not only win the by-polls, but also lost an opportunity to become a member of the Legislative Council last month when the BJP denied him a ticket.
Mr. Vishwanath, who had thanked Mr. Yediyurappa for keeping his word while speaking to reporters in his native K.R. Nagar on Wednesday, arrived in Mysuru on Thursday and visited the residence of BJP MP representing Chamarajanagar V. Srinivas Prasad and the BJP office.
He also thanked the government for acknowledging his contributions as a “political writer” and nominating him to the Legislative Council. He also sought to clarify that there was no “technical hurdle” in his nomination.
