Vishwanath, who contested from Hunsur assembly segment, lost to Congress nominee H P Manjunath.
BENGALURU: Adagur H Vishwanath, the former JDS president who had helped the ‘chief rebel’ Ramesh Jarkiholi in bringing together all 17 MLAs to topple the previous coalition government, is not very pleased that the cabinet expansion is constantly getting delayed.
When asked what will happen if the government does not honour its commitment to induct the rebels, as it has already been about seven months since this government has come to power, told The New Indian Express, ‘nodona yenaguthe antha’ (we will see what will happen).
When asked about the rumours floating regarding the chances the Congress (with 68 MLAs, and the JDS, with 34 MLAs) still has of coming to power, provided the 17 rebels support them again, Vishwanath said that nothing can be confirmed, repeating his ‘let us see’ stance.
Talking about the delay in cabinet expansion, Vishwanath said that as there was a process to be followed, as well as the bypolls, the delay “is fine”.
He said that he will speak to the other 16 rebels, as they had collectively acted to bring down the coalition government.
“I will speak to them and will arrange a meeting. Let us see how long they will delay the cabinet expansion,” he said.
It may be recalled that the former rebels have held at least three meetings, where they decided to stay united come what may. One source even explained that the rebels were planning a pilgrimage together to seek divine intervention.
“We are not asking for anything extraordinary, we are only asking them to keep up their commitment and what they promised us. If it was not for the 17 MLAs who resigned, how could this government have come to power?’’ he asked, adding, “The ball is in their court.’’
In the past few weeks, the rebels have expressed their frustration over the delay in inducting them as ministers in Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s cabinet. They said that this commitment was made to them even before they rebelled.
Vishwanath, who contested from Hunsur assembly segment, lost to Congress nominee H P Manjunath.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Petroleum and Chemicals D V Sadananda Gowda said that CM Yediyurappa will decide about cabinet expansion once he returns from Davos.
“He is in Davos along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will think about expanding the cabinet after he returns,” Gowda said.
