Did peacemaker J N Ganesh turn hostile?

Bengaluru: Did Kampli MLA J. N. Ganesh’s attempt at playing a peacemaker between fellow legislators Bheema Naik and Anand Singh go awry? 

Eye witnesses said these legislators were high on liquor but Mr Ganesh who intervened to end long-standing hostility between Mr Naik and Mr Singh ended up attacking his mentor when a scuffle broke out between the trio. Contrary to initiatial reports that Mr Ganesh and Mr Naik were livid as Mr Singh squealed about their reported plans to defect to the BJP, it was differences between Mr Naik and Mr Singh which trigged fisticuffs at a resort early hours of Sunday.

Sources said a turf war between Mr Singh and Mr Naik in ore-rich Ballari district surfaced recently with the latter abusing the former for propping one of his relatives as a potential candidate to contest the next Assembly polls from Hagaribommanahalli constituency. The wordy duel was witnessed during a recent meeting of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) but both legislators were pacified by senior leaders at that meeting.   

At the resort, Mr Singh walked up to Mr Ganesh who till then was sitting with Mr Naik (by then the latter had returned to his room). Mr Singh asked Mr Ganesh the whereabouts of Mr Naik but Mr Ganesh requested him to pardon the Hagaribommanahalli legislator for the previous episode. 

A furious Mr Singh demanded that Mr Naik tender an apology. At this juncture, Mr Ganesh took Mr Singh to Mr Naik’s room where the latter apologized for his diatribe against Mr Singh. Unsatisfied with this apology, Mr Singh demanded that Mr Naik apologize at the CLP, but Mr Ganesh stepped in and asked the former to leave the spot and even suggested that the issue could be discussed the next morning. An unrelenting Mr Singh manhandled both Mr Ganesh and Mr Naik, triggering a fusillade of abuses by these legislators against each other. 

Soon, Mr Ganesh boiling with rage, attacked Mr Singh with a liquor bottle, sources added.