Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Mar 24: Seven MLAs from Janata Dal (Secular) who rebelled against their party by voting in favour of Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls have tendered their resignations as legislators and are likely to be inducted into Congress by party president Rahul Gandhi, during his Mysuru visit on Sunday March 25.
Srirangapatna MLA Ramesh Bandisiddegowda resigned on Friday, while MLAs Zameer Ahmed Khan (Chamarajpet), N Cheluvarayaswamy (Nagamangala), Akhanda Srinivasmurthy (Pulakeshinagar), Bheema Naik (Hagaribommanahalli), Iqbal Ansari (Gangavathi) and H C Balaskrishna (Magadi) resigned from their memberships on Saturday.
Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad who accepted their resignations, said that the MLAs told him that they resigned on their own will, without political pressure.
Koliwad claimed that it has nothing to do with the MLA disqualification petition that was pending before him.
After the MLAs had voted in favour of K C Ramamurthy, the Rajya Sabha candidate from Congress in the 2016 elections, the JD(S) had sought their disqualification and submitted a petition to the Assembly Speaker.
When Rajya Sabha elections were announced on March 23, 2018, the party urged the Speaker to take quick action to stop them from cross-voting. When the Speaker reserved his orders, the JD(S) moved the plea to the High Court.
Former JD(S) MLCs - M C Nanaiah, Sarovar Srinivas and B Ramakrishna are also most likely to join the Congress on Sunday.
The votes cast by seven JD(S) rebel MLAs in the Rajya Sabha biennial election on March 23rd along with the support of independents had helped the Congress win the third seat. Earlier, it was sure of winning only two.
Prajwal Revanna has better prospectus in Congress: Zameer Ahmed Khan
On Saturday, Zameer Ahmed Khan extended an invitation to JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda's grandson Prajwal Revanna to join the Congress.
"Prajwal has been sidelined by his uncle H D Kumaraswamy, who feels threatened by his political growth. Prajwal is an asset to JD(S) but Kumaraswamy is curbing his political prospects. If he is interested, I will communicate to the Congress about his induction," he added.
"JD(S) leader B M Farook was made a scapegoat. Despite knowing the polls outcome beforehand, Farook was fielded twice in the Rajya Sabha elections by HD Deve Gowda," he added.
Zameer Ahmed Khan had earlier told media that he quit JD(S) as H D Kumaraswamy does not listen to anyone. The JD(S) has become 'one-upmanship party'. Kumaraswamy does not even listen to his father or brother H D Revanna, he had claimed.