Sadana Samavesha rally: You don't invite me, you insult me, says AH Vishwanath

Mysuru: Taking strong umbrage at not being invited to the government's Sadana Samavesha rally held to showcase its achievements recently, senior Congress leader, A.H. Vishwanath, on Monday lashed out at the Siddaramaiah administration for "insulting" veterans like him.

Deploring that senior Congress leaders were sidelined, while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hogged all the limelight, he told reporters here, "When I asked why I was not invited, district in- charge minister, Dr H.C. Mahadevappa claimed that only elected representatives were invited. But you make your sons, Sunil Bose and Dr S Yatindra sit along with you on the dais. Are they ministers, MLAs or ZP members? And you forget those who brought you to the Congress party and those who worked for the Congress. Is this not an insult to them?”

Making his displeasure even clearer, he added, " I don't know if I should remain in this Congress anymore. A file was prepared to suspend me for six years when Digvijay Singh was the AICC state in-charge. But as he was removed from this position I remained in the party. Or else they would have thrown me out by now. But K.C. Venugopal has now assured me that I will be retained in the Congress."

Continuing his scathing attack on the CM, he said, "Seventy five per cent of what Siddaramaiah said at the rally was a lie. You gave bhagyas, but have they all reached beneficiaries? Has there been a survey on this? What did you to do for farmers? You said that out of 165 promises made in the manifesto, as many as 155 were fulfilled. You promised to generate revenue, but has this been done?"