Mysuru: A day after he joined the BJP and got the party (BJP) ticket to contest from Hunsur for the Dec. 5 by-poll, senior leader and former Minister A.H. Vishwanath visited Chamundi Hill this morning and offered prayers to the deity at the Hill Temple.

Later, speaking to presspersons, Vishwanath said that he was in a depressed state when he visited the Hill Temple a fortnight ago as some leaders had made baseless charges against him. But now his  mind was free and today he had visited the Hill Temple and prayed for the victory of all the disqualified legislators who are contesting on a BJP ticket in the Dec.5 by-poll.

Later, Vishwanath visited the BJP Office in city, where he addressed the party workers. 

Claiming that it was MP V. Sreenivasa Prasad who brought him to the party, Vishwanath recalled his long association with Sreenivasa Prasad  and said that it was Prasad who brought him closer to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Maintaining that it was a meeting with Prasad at the latter’s residence in Mysuru, which triggered the collapse of the coalition government, Vishwanath  expressed confidence that all the disqualified legislators will win the by-polls.

Lashing out at former Chief Ministers Siddharamaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy, he came down heavily against former assembly speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, who he said had acted on the directions of the two former Chief Ministers to disqualify rebel JD(S) and Congress MLAs.