MLC A.H. Vishwanath on Wednesday said that he would support and welcome Mallikarjun Kharge as Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.
Speaking to media persons in the city Vishwanath said Mallikarjun Kharge was a competent leader and he would welcome his candidature.
‘’Mr. Kharge has come from a humble background and has grown tall as a political leader and is being spoken of as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc. Mr. Kharge comes from the grassroots and from the community that has been socially exploited and such person should emerge as leaders and be the PM’’, said Mr. Vishwanath. ‘’I desire that another Kannadiga, after H.D. Deve Gowda, become the Prime Minister of the country,” he added.
The suggestion was made during the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi on Tuesday and has created a political buzz in the State.
Ram Mandir inauguration
Mr. Vishwanath expressed concern that the inauguration of the temple was being slated at a time when a new variant of COVID-19 was emerging and had claimed a few lives in the country.
In 2021, the government at the Centre and the UP State government was fixated on the Kumbha Mela in Haridwar instead of taking measures to prevent crowding. The fallout was the rapid spread of the virus and death of thousands of people. Now the government was set to commit the same mistake and temple inauguration has been slated at a time when there was a threat of fresh outbreak of the pandemic, said Mr.Vishwanath.
He also took potshots at the BJP for asking senior leaders like L.K. Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, to abstain from attending the inauguration of the temple at Ayodhya due to their age.
‘’They were the ones who spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and ensured that the BJP emerge as an alternative power to Congress. But instead such leaders were asked to stay away while an invitation has been extended to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda who had opposed the temple movement though he too was as old and had health-related issues,” said Mr. Vishwanath adding that Mr. Modi fears that Advani, given his role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, would hog all limelight and credit were he to be invited.
