Dissident Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav resigns from HD Kumarawamy's Karnataka govt; reports suggest defection to BJP on cards

In a blow to the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress combine in Karnataka, Chincholi MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav of Congress has resigned from the Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy-led state government on Monday. According to ANI, Jadhav visited Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar’s residence on Monday morning and submitted his resignation letter.

The resignation of Jadhav comes after Kumaraswamy announced the MLA’s removal from the post of chairman of the Warehouse Corporation in February, according to the  Hindustan Times .

Jadhav was unhappy with the “autocratic” style of Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge, reported PTI. Asserting that other Congress MLAs will remain with the party, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “He shouldn’t forget that whatever he’s today is because of Congress. Anyone can come and go but the party will remain forever.”

Further, KPCC working president said that by quitting the Congress before the Speaker’s decision regarding Jadhav and three other rebel leaders’s disqualification for skipping the Congress Legislature Party meeting last month, the Chincholi MLA has ruined his career, PTI reported.

A report in The New Indian Express also suggested that Jadhav was likely to defect to the BJP. An announcement regarding him being the BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Kalaburgi is likely to be made when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the constituency on 6 March. Kalaburgi is also the bastion of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, Congress has 80 MLAs and JD (S) has 37 MLAs. Jadhav was one of the MLAs, apart from Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathalli, Dr Sudhakar, BC Patil, Nagendra B and JN Ganesh, who abstained from the Assembly’s Budget session even though the Congress had issued a whip to all its legislator to attend the session’s first day.