Giving further room for speculation over their future political move, former BJP Ministers S.T. Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, and MLC A.H. Vishwanath attended the dinner organised following the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on Belagavi outskirts late on Wednesday, December 13, night.
Congress sources said the two former BJP Ministers arrived after the CLP meeting and joined the Congress legislators for dinner while Mr. Vishwanath had arrived earlier.
The duo arrived at the venue purportedly to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking grants for development works to be taken up in their constituency, sources said. Mr. Somashekar represents Yeshwanthpura assembly constituency in Bengaluru while Mr. Hebbar represents Yellapura assembly constituency in Uttara Kannada district. Mr. Vishwanath is a nominated MLC.
KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar told presspersons here on Thursday, December 14, that as many as 10 legislators from other parties had come to the dinner based on the invite. “However, they did not participate in the CLP,” he clarified.
Fuelling rumour mills
The two ministers — formerly with the Congress — and Mr. Vishwanath (formerly with the Janata Dal-Secular) were part of a group of 17 Congress and JD(S) legislators who resigned, triggering the collapse of the 14-month-old JD(S)-Congress coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy in 2019. Mr. Vishwanath is also a former Congress leader, who shifted to the JD(S) before jumping over to BJP ship. He is also rumoured to be inching closer back to the Congress.
While speculation has been rife over their impending entry into Congress, the two former Ministers have remained indifferent within the BJP during the ongoing winter session at Belagavi. They, however, attended the BJP Legislative Party meeting held here earlier this week, BJP sources said.
Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka said that the former Ministers had informed him about their attendance at the dinner. “This cannot be construed as indiscipline. They have been attending the party activities, including the protest and meetings in my chamber. However, this (their meeting with Congress leaders) has been happening frequently for the past three months. I will speak to them.”
Guarantee rallies
As part of the preparation for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, Congress legislators were told in the CLP to organise rallies at district-level as well as the constituency level to bring the beneficiaries of the guarantees on the same platform in January 2024 and create awareness about the benefits that have accrued from the scheme.
During the CLP, many legislators are learnt to have thanked the Chief Minister for announcing a special grant of ₹25 crore in the previous CLP last week. The Chief Minister is learnt to have promised more special funds and to address the issues of legislators after the budget session.
