Umesh Jadhav, who quit the Congress last month and is contesting against Mallikarjun Kharge from Kalaburagi, got a shot in the arm as Ramesh Kumar, the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly accepted his resignation, thereby delivering a probable coup de grace to the already tattering Congress
Bengaluru: The stumbling blocks have finally been cleared for Umesh Jadhav. Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly Ramesh Kumar has finally accepted the resignation of Congress MLA Jadhav. This means he can now contest the Lok Sabha polls from the constituency of Kalaburagi, which is considered a strong bastion of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
It was on March 4 that Jadhav had met Kumar at his residence in Kolar and tendered his resignation, citing that he had decided to throw in the towel out of volition and no coercion.
But immediately after that, former chief minister and leader of legislative party Siddaramaiah too had met the Speaker along with several senior Congress leaders, prevailing upon him not to accept his resignation and disqualify him as he resorted to absenteeism from the session and anti-party activities.
Since then, the Speaker had kept everyone on tenterhooks. It was also a matter widely discussed in legal circles. But now, with the acceptance of the resignation, curtains are finally down on the issue.
In fact, Jadhav had expressed his confidence that the Speaker would rule in the affirmative, and now he stands vindicated.
“It is good that the Speaker has announced his judgment much earlier than the elections. It has lessened the tension of both Umesh Jadhav and the voters of his constituency. With this, it is easy for them to vote in favour of the BJP. It was his right to resign and his right has been conserved by the Speaker. The false claim on the Congress leader Siddaramaiah and his blackmailing and intimidatory tactics have become futile,” said Go Madhusudhan, a BJP spokesperson.
Now, the road becomes all the more treacherous for Kharge as several ex-Congress leaders from the region including Malakayya Guttedar, Malaka Reddy and others will vociferously campaign against him.
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