Updated July 1st, 2019 at 17:07 IST
Blow to Congress: Ramesh Jarkiholi quits as Karnataka MLA, leaves Cong-JD(S) government on edge
In a major setback for the Congress party, rebel MLA from Karnataka's Gokak Ramesh Jarkiholi has resigned from his post in the state Assembly and from the party.
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In a major setback for the Congress party, rebel MLA from Karnataka's Gokak Ramesh Jarkiholi has resigned from his post in the state Assembly. This development has come hours after another Congress MLA from Vijayanagar Anand Singh tendered his resignation from the Karnataka Assembly to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Monday.
As per reports, two other party leaders close Ramesh Jarkiholi - B.Nagendra (Ballari Rural MLA) and Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani MLA are also said to tender their resignation.
Sources have told that Congress leader DK Shivakumar tried to convince Jarkiholi and Singh to not quit their posts, however, failed in his attempt.
Notably, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Ramesh Jarkiholi had threatened to resign from the party and join BJP along with several other MLAs, after he was dropped from the Karnataka cabinet earlier in December. sources had told.
Karnataka Congress MLAs tendered their resignations owing to the Cabinet expansion earlier in June which left a section of MLAs unhappy. The incident of multiple resignations has come at a time when differences are seeming to appear in the Congress-JD(S) alliance in the state. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-JD(S) alliance failed to make its mark in the state with BJP winning 25 of the 28 seats.
Amid the resignations, Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy is in the US and posted a tweet, saying that he is aware of the developments taking place in the state and lashed out at the BJP.
"The foundation laying of Kalabhairaveshwara Temple is going on at New Jersey under the aegis of Swamiji. I am watching all the developments in the state. BJP is daydreaming to destabilise the government," Kumaraswamy tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Congress party is going through massive trouble over the last couple of days with a series of resignation owing to party president Rahul Gandhi's resentment with the top leaders over party's debacle in the 2019 polls.
Sources told that Rahul Gandhi expected the senior leaders of Congress to accept responsibility for the defeat and resign from their posts, while he is still adamant on resigning as the party chief.
Earlier on Monday, two more high levels Congress committee leaders - UP Congress Committee Secretary Ajay Saraswat 'Soni' and Scheduled Castes department chief of the Congress Committee Nitin Raut, resigned, claiming responsibility for the party's Lok Sabha loss.
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Published July 1st, 2019 at 16:00 IST