Vishwanath blames party insiders, JD(S) for defeat

Congress candidate A H Vishwanath who lost to his BJP rival Prathap Simha in the parliamentary elections from Mysore-Kodagu constituency, on Saturday blamed “vicious minds” within the party, and Janata Dal (secular) for his humiliating defeat.

Addressing the media at a hotel in the city, Vishwanath dismissed the ‘Modi wave’ as being the factor for his failure. Instead, he termed it as the “victory of JD(S)”. “My defeat has nothing to do with Modi or Simha of BJP. The politics of the regional party has stooped to a new low, which has been exposed following the results. For them (JDS), Congress was the target,” he said.

Reacting to media queries on Congress party trailing behind in the vote share against the BJP especially in some of the Assembly constituencies held by Congress MLAs, Vishwanath acceded to the same, and said he needed some time to ascertain the reasons behind it. 

But when pressed, he admitted that the he had been deceived by the party insiders, but stopped short of naming them. “But this is nothing new in the party,” he said, likening the circumstances to a murder incident, where it takes some time to identify the perpetrator.

When asked if Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should be held responsible for the party’s debacle, especially in Mysore-Kodagu, Vishwanath said that Siddaramaiah alone should not be held accountable for the outcome. He however demanded that “unwanted elements” in the party be removed.

On his next step in politics, Vishwanath said that he was an ardent worker of the party, and would involve himself in its re-organisation.

Vishwanath said that the new government at the Centre comprised of “corporate bodies, media, businessmen and traders”, and that it didn’t represent the poor and socially marginalised people.