BJP MLC AH Vishwanath to fight Karnataka HC order in SC

Source:-https://www.newindianexpress.com

BENGALURU: BJP MLC AH Vishwanath on Tuesday said that he will file an appeal before the Supreme Court against the Karnataka High Court order disqualifying him from being appointed as a minister. BJP leaders in the state too have extended support to the former minister. He was among 17 Congress and JDS legislators, who resigned from Assembly membership in 2019 to bring down the JDS-Congress coalition government and help BJP come to power. Vishwanath said that he did not get the full support from those in the government and government advocates in the case.

“Those who got help from us to form the government are not helping us in dif ficult times,” he commented. He said that in his four decades of political life, he has seen many ups and downs, faced insults and tolerated back-stabbing, but he will continue to fight.

The High Court barred Vishwanath from becoming a minister as he is a nominated member of the Council, while R Shankar and MTB Nagaraj can get berths as their disqualification ceased to be operative once they got elected to the Council from the Assembly. All of them were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker and the Supreme Court upheld the order. Vishwanath said that his name was in the list of candidates contesting the Council elections, but was dropped at the last minute.

“My name was recommended by the state unit and it was in the first list sent to Delhi. I don’t know why it was removed,” he said. When asked, the chief minister told him that it was done in Delhi. He said that Ramesh Jarkiholi, S T Somashekar and other leaders are supporting him.