Vishwanath threatens to quit Congress, more leaders to follow suit?

Vishwanath met AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, also wrote a letter to him complaining that many leaders were quitting the party because of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's "arrogant attitude". He too might leave the party notwithstanding the insults hurled at him by Siddaramaiah.

He has stated that there was no harmony in the Karnataka Congress, with several leaders like him having been sidelined. Attributing the recent victory in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls to the "weakness" of opposition parties, Congress should not take the victory for granted. The internal intolerance among leaders had dented the party's prospects. While, there was no coordination between the party and the government, he was insulted and humiliated for raising questions.

Aside from Vishwanath, a few other leaders including C M Ibrahim, Malikayya Guttedar and Sathish Jarkiholi too have threatened to quit the party if the issues raised by them are not addressed by the party immediately.

The party already has lost two veteran leaders S M Krishna and V Srinivas Prasad who have jumped ship to the BJP. Leaders Kumar Bangarappa and K Jayaprakash Hegde too have joined the saffron party.

• Vishwanath Congress
• Karnataka Congress