Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is yet to formally accept the resignation of Minister for Primary and Secondary Education N. Mahesh from the Cabinet, plans to keep the matter in abeyance until speaking with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati.
Mr. Mahesh, the lone BSP legislator in Karnataka, quit the Cabinet last week, apparently on the instruction of Ms. Mayawati. According to sources, the JD(S) is planning to offer the Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha seat to the BSP in the 2019 polls in its quota, since the party has a strong presence there.
Senior leaders of the JD (S) are of the opinion that Mr. Mahesh’s resignation does not augur well at a time when byelections have been announced to three Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats. Party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and national secretary Danish Ali discussed the issue on Friday. Mr Gowda is said to have asked Mr. Ali, who played a pivotal role in forging the BSP-JD (S) alliance in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly polls, to discuss the issue with Ms. Mayawati.
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Of the 11 members in the Cabinet from the JD(S) and BSP, Mr. Mahesh was the lone Dalit representative.