AH Vishwanath to remain JD(S) state president

BENGALURU:  Putting all speculations to rest, AH Vishwanath on Thursday declared that he would continue as the state president of the JD(S). Party Supremo HD Deve Gowda, who addressed a gathering of leaders at JD(S) headquarters, apologised for having ignored party work ever since the coalition government came into power. As the first step towards preparing the JD(S) for Lok Sabha polls, Gowda appointed senior party leader YSV Dutta as the campaign committee chief.

“I expressed my desire to quit from the state president post but Deve Gowda insisted that I continue with an assurance that I will receive all the assistance. I have decided to continue,” said H Vishwanath.In the first of its kind gathering ever since HD Kumaraswamy became chief minister, JD(S) leaders from the village, taluk and district levels gathered at party headquarters—JP Bhavan on Thursday. While leaders hoped to get elected for various positions as office-bearers and chiefs of boards and corporations, Gowda has put the onus on workers to suggest names.

“After making him (Vishwanath) the chief, we made mistakes. We should have come to party office and appointed office-bearers, created wings for women, youth, backward classes and minorities. We didn’t do anything to make the party stronger. It is my mistake. Not everybody will get positions but you give me suggestions on who should be appointed,” HD Deve Gowda told the gathering.

While senior leader like Basavraj Horatti and PGR Scindia sought appointments to boards and corporations at the earliest, Gowda warned that very few can assume positions and others should patiently wait. 

Kumaraswamy said that appointments to boards and corporations will be made. “I urge MLAs to step aside and allow candidates who lost assembly seats to take up the responsibility so they can work better for Lok Sabha polls,” he told legislators. In the run-up to the polls, Deve Gowda has now turned his attention towards addressing conflict within the party and strengthening the grassroots level workers.

One-shot payment for waiver in Feb: CM

HD Kumaraswamy said that he intends to pay off the entire amount for the Rs 46,000 crore farm loan waiver at one go. While the cabinet in August had decided to repay banks in four instalments, the CM said he intends to make the payment by February 8 — a tentative date for the state budget.