A day after quitting as Minister, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA for Channapatna C.P. Yogeshwar resigned from the Assembly on Friday. He met Speaker K.G. Bopaiah in Madikeri and submitted the resignation letter.
Soon after returning from Madikeri, Mr. Yogeshwar severed ties with the BJP and joined the Congress at the party’s Ramanagaram district office on Friday evening.
Sources in the Speaker’s office told The Hindu that acceptance of Mr. Yogeshwar’s resignation was only a formality. “These formalities will be completed on Saturday by issuing a formal notification. It is as good as accepting his resignation now itself,” they said.
Mr. Narasimha Nayak (Raju Gowda), who too quit the ministry along with Mr. Yogeshwar on Thursday, is expected to quit the Assembly on Monday. Sources close to him said that he rushed to his home constituency of Shorapur to get Congress ticket for his supporters to contest elections to urban local bodies as Saturday is the last day for filing nominations.
Before leaving for Shorapur from Bangalore, Mr. Nayak met senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and held consultations with him.
It may be noted that both Mr. Yogeshwar and Mr. Nayak quit the Ministry to join the Congress on whose ticket they want to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections.
After accepting Mr. Yogeshwar’s resignation, the strength of the BJP in the 209-member Assembly will reduce to 107 including the Speaker, a nominated member and an Independent who is part of the ministry. This would mean that the BJP government will lose its majority if another five MLAs quit. While Mr. Raju Gowda is set to quit on Monday, the resignations by two of BJP MLAs Vittal Katakdonda and Tarikere Suresh are already pending before the Speaker. Speculation is rife that another two or three BJP MLAs may also quit in the next few days to join the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).
Mr. Yogeshwar had to face the wrath of local BJP workers for quitting the party. As soon as he emerged out of the Speaker’s office after submitting resignation letter, the local BJP workers mobbed him and shouted slogans against him accusing him of “ditching the party just ahead of the Assembly polls after enjoying ministerial post.”
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar hit out at the Congress on Friday and accused it of trying to destabilise his government by inducing desertions of BJP MLAs.
Published - February 23, 2013 02:19 am IST
