Chincholi Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav formally quit the party as he tendered his resignation to the Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar. Though the Congress dismissed it as a foregone conclusion, the void created is huge as it may prod other disgruntled members to walk the same path
Bengaluru: It’s another jolt for the Congresss-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, specifically the Congress. On Monday, Umesh Jadhav, the MLA from Chincholi bid goodbye to the party and formally tendered his resignation to the Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar at his residence in Kolar.
For a government that has been defined by chaos, confusion and conundrums in the first year of its existence, the exit of a prominent Congressman is a testimony to the fact that all is certainly not well.
In fact, when the members of the coordination committee met up on Monday morning to finalise the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls, the initial hours were dominated by talks of Jadhav quitting the party.
If sources are to be believed, he will formally join the BJP in the presence of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits Kalaburagi to address a rally on March 6.
However, one must note that the Congress is still trying to bring Jadhav back. So it is also trying to use the weapon of ‘disqualification’ against him. The issue of disqualification had rocked the Karnataka Assembly during the budget session.
A few disgruntled Congressmen, including Jadhav, had not turned up in spite of a whip being issued by the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah. However, before the budget session ended, these rebel leaders returned to the house, only to drive home the point that they had not dishonoured the whip.
Now, the ball is entirely in the court of the Speaker as to how he deals with the resignation. On the other hand, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Dinesh Gundu Rao dismissed his exit as a foregone conclusion.
While the hullaballoo continues over Jadhav’s exit, the BJP finds itself in a spot of bother. The very entry of Jadhav has created trouble as Sunil Vallyapure, a strong BJP candidate from the same constituency of Chincholi is upset that his party has rolled out a red carpet to Jadhav and will make him an MP candidate from the same area.
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