GTD’s speech supportive of Siddaramaiah triggers backlash from Vishwanath

A.H. Vishwanath, MLC, castigated Chamundeshwari MLA G.T. Deve Gowda for his speech supportive of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the inauguration of Dasara on Thursday and wondered whether the former was a beneficiary of MUDA site scam.

Mr. Deve Gowda not only picked up cudgels on behalf of Mr. Siddaramaiah but rubbished demands for his resignation being made by his party leadership consequent to an FIR being registered against the Chief Minister.

Mr. Siddaramaiah is facing Lokayukta and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in connection with irregularities in sites allotted to his wife Parvathi by Mysuru Urban Developmen Authority (MUDA.

Addressing media persons here on Friday, Mr. Vishwanath said that given the tone and tenor of Mr. Deve Gowda’s speech and how he defended Mr. Siddaramaiah, it creates an impression that Mr. Gowda himself is a beneficiary of the 50:50 scheme under which the MUDA distributed sites and is now being probed.

He took objections to using Dasara platform to deliver political speech and said the sanctity of the event has been vitiated. The inaugural event had turned into a political platform, said Mr. Vishwanath. Even Hampa Nagarajaiah, a litterateur who inaugurated the festival, delivered a speech that reeked of politics, the MLC added.

Referring to his statements that a democratically elected government should not be dislodged, Mr. Vishwanath said nobody was talking about dislodging the government. On the contrary, there was bickering within the Congress leaders some of whom are dancing in glee at the prospects of becoming Chief Ministers, he said.

Meanwhile, S.R. Mahesh, former MLA and Janata Dal (Secular) leader described Deve Gowda’s remarks as his personal opinion and not the stance of the party. Incidentally, Mr. Gowda had abstained from participating in the JD(S) protest condemning senior IPS officer M. Chandrashekar for his alleged abusive remarks against Union Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy. The official is conducting a probe against illegal mining cases in which Kumaraswamy is implicated.

Published - October 04, 2024 07:41 pm IST