Bengaluru: Refusing to withdraw his resignation as state Janata Dal (Secular) president following the party's dismal showing in the Lok Sabha poll in the state, Mr A H Vishwanath, however, said here on Tuesday that he was open to a Cabinet berth if it was offered to him.
“If not, I am ready to serve as an ordinary legislator," he told reporters here, however, making it clear that there was no going back on his resignation and he was keen on the party accepting it. Whatever his own fate, Mr Vishwanath said the party must induct a Muslim into the cabinet in Friday's expansion. Recalling that a Muslim had been made a Deputy Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accommodated a Muslim in his cabinet, he reasoned, it was time the JD(S) too inducted a Muslim when filling its two vacant seats in the cabinet. "The Yeddurappa government in the state too had a Muslim in the ministry," he pointed out.
To a question on the government's move to sell land to JSW Steel in Ballari district, Mr Vishwanath agreed with the views of senior Congress leader , H K Patil against making the sale to the company.
"Mr Patil has written to the government explaining the problems arising from the sale. The issue should be brought before the cabinet and the move dropped," he said.
On the threats to his life being made on social media, Mr Vishwanath merely laughed, saying that he was a Janata Dal (Secular) worker and sometimes people resorted to such things when drunk.
