Mangalore, March 25, 2013
The internal rebellion within the JD(S) between party loyalists and defectors has taken an ugly turn today , with 60 more party leaders submitting their resignations, following in the footsteps of Nagaraj Shetty and M G Hegde, who submitted their resignation a few days ago.
Addressing a press conference in the city M G Hegde alleged that party President M B Sadashiv and senior JD(S) leader Amarnath Shetty were responsible for the resignation of JD(S) leaders including himself and Nagaraj Shetty. He also warned that 10 more senior leaders and another 50 members are willing to tender their resignations in a day or two to give a further jolt to the party.
Making a scathing attack on the local leadership of the party M G Hegde said “Nagaraj Shetty, Sadanand Shetty or I did not knock at JD(S) doors. It was JD(S) chief Kumaraswamy who approached us to join JD(S) and strengthen party. But after joining we have realized that it is not a political party in the true sense but rather a factory for making money”. He also alleged that JD(S) members were forced to resign as they were “unable to face the mental torture, the differences within the party leaders and the rampant internal conflict within the party”.
M G Hegde also stated that party leaders at the local level did not like the idea of our joining the party from the beginning as they feared they would be sidelined and they opposed whatever we proposed, which compelled us to take the step of quitting the party. M G Hegde also revealed that though he made several appeals to JD(S) supremo Kumaraswamy to terminate party President M B Sadashiva, for him and his supporters to rejoin, his requests did not elicit any positive response.
Responding to these allegations of M G Hegde M B Sadashiva says “the likes of M G Hegde have no moral right to speak against a senior leader like Amarnatha Shetty or against me. We have been in the party for the last 30 years and we carried the party flag all these years when nobody was here to shoulder the party responsibility. M G Hegde is known for not sticking to any political party. He quit BJP and joined Congress and spoilt both these parties by creating trouble there. He came here and we were skeptical about his loyalty. We really felt he does not fit in a party like ours and it has been proved right. He must be preparing the ground for joining either KJP or go back to BJP”.
Sadashiva also points out that M G Hegde wanted something more than just be a secretary in the party and that is why soon after joining us he began to play his divisive game. “Our loyal party workers have not succumbed to his mechanisms and hence he tried to pressurize and blackmail the state leadership to expel me if they were to rejoin. Fortunately their ploy did not work”, says Sadashiva unperturbed by the resignation of many leaders from the party as claimed by M G Hegde. Though he is doubtful about the claims of M G Hegde, he says JD(S) can withstand this turmoil and carry on with its task without any hindrance.
