Former Minister A.H. Vishwanath has likened the rebellion in Rajasthan’s ruling Congress against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to the political developments that had taken place in Karnataka last year.
Mr. Vishwanath, who was in the forefront of the rebellion against the Congress-JD (S) coalition government, which culminated in the installation of B.S. Yeddiyurappa government, claimed credit for the recent political developments in Rajasthan involving rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot.
“I feel proud”, Mr. Vishwanath told reporters in Mysuru on Friday while claiming credit for giving birth to such a ‘model’ of politics.
Recalling that the members of the then ruling parties – Congress and JD (S) – had themselves rebelled against the then government in Karnataka, Mr. Vishwanath called for revolutionising such acts of “constitutional freedom” so that democratic values received their due credit and people’s representatives are not undermined.
Nowadays, Mr. Vishwanath contended, elected representatives from the Opposition were not going towards the ruling party. It is the other way round with people from the ruling party joining the ranks of the Opposition. “Such developments should not be considered as defection and acts that deserved to be punished.”
He said the young leadership in the Congress was being repressed through party leader Rahul Gandhi and cited the examples of Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan. Both the young leaders were secular-minded and worked hard for the party. But, they had rebelled against the efforts to repress them, he claimed.
Mr. Vishwanath lashed out at former Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy besides former Speaker Ramesh Kumar for calling him a defector. While Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Ramesh Kumar had changed parties multiple times, Mr. Kumaraswamy had taken the entire party away from its principles, Mr. Vishwanath said referring to the latter joining hands with the BJP to form a coalition government in 2006.
The anti-defection law is being misused by the Chief Ministers, Mr. Vishwanath said while calling for a nation-wide debate on such “dictatorial attitude”.
