HUBLI Nov 21: After resigning from the post of Assembly Speaker, Jagadish Shettar, who returned to his hometown Hubli as a Minister on Friday, sought to know why the Reddy brothers were being projected as villains.

Addressing presspersons, Mr. Shettar said after the Assembly elections, when BJP was short of clear majority, the Reddy brothers played a crucial role in the formation of the government.

“When their help was required everybody had a good word about them. But now why are they being projected as villains?” Mr. Shettar asked. However, Mr. Shettar declined to answer the query on who were projecting the Reddy brothers as villains.

Mr. Shettar said he had come up the hard way in politics and had been an active worker in party over several years. “I have served in various capacities in the party and it was because of my experience and commitment to the party I was made minister in the coalition government also,” he said.

“After the Assembly elections, the party high command asked me to accept the Speakers’ post and now the party asked the me to resign and become Minister. And I have acted accordingly,” he said.

Interestingly, Mr. Shettar said that nobody had fought for his sake during the recent political crisis in the party. “Neither the Reddy brothers nor any MLA has fought with the party to make me a Minister,” he said. He clarified that the formula for the resolution of the crisis was formulated by the party’s central leadership.

He said he was satisfied with the composition of the coordination committee formed by the party in the State and declined to comment on inclusion of individual members in the committee. Mr. Shettar clarified that during his tenure as the Speaker of the Assembly, he had acted impartially. On the delay in accepting the resignation of Bagalkot MLA Mr. Charantimath, he said that a resignation of an MLA could not be accepted based on a fax message.

“Those who are raising the issue are aware of the fact if any MLA wished to resign the resignation letter written in his or her own handwriting should be handed over to the Speaker personally and then only it will be accepted”, he said.

The second-time Minister admitted that the political crisis might have affected the flood relief works to some extent but said that “his government” had acted swiftly in disbursing compensation to the affected people compared with the action taken by the previous governments during such natural calamities.

On the choice of candidate for the forthcoming election to the legislative council, Mr. Shettar said that he would be convening a meeting of party leaders and members of Haveri, Gadag and Dharwad in Hubli on Sunday.

Hindu