Rebel Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader Siddaramaiah Tuesday resigned from the Karnataka legislative assembly to sever ties with the party he was associated with for more than three decades, paving the way for joining the Congress. The firebrand backward-class leader, who was elected from the Chamundeshwari assembly segment in Mysore district on the JD-S ticket, told reporters he was forced to submit the resignation letter to the assembly speaker (Krishna) in the latter's chamber after he was denied an opportunity to make a statement on the floor of the house explaining the reasons for quitting the party.
"As I was not permitted to speak in the house on why I was leaving the party I had been associated and built, I have decided to submit the resignation letter to the speaker in the chamber, as I did not want to hold up the house proceedings, which were disrupted over the last couple of days by the opposition, led by the Congress," Siddaramaiah said.
Declaring his intentions to join the Congress after meeting its president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi soon, Siddaramaiah said though he wanted to form a regional party in the state after quitting the JD-S, he did not because regional parties, formed in Karnataka earlier did not survive.
With the JD-S joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the present coalition government in February, Siddaramaiah said he did not see any hope or future in remaining with the party that was formed on a secular plank but had no compunctions in aligning with "communal forces" for coming to power.
Blaming JD-S chief H.D. Deve Gowda for his decision to quit the party, Siddaramaiah alleged the former prime minister found him to be a stumbling block in making his son H.D. Kumaraswamy chief minister.
"Months before withdrawing from the previous coalition government with the Congress in January, Deve Gowda got me suspended from the party last August along with seven other legislators, without giving me an opportunity to defend myself," Siddaramaiah said.
"As forming a regional party and building it is a long haul, I have decided to throw my lot with the Congress, which is a secular party and believes in inner democracy that I find sadly missing in the JD-S on account of Gowda's autocratic rule," Siddaramaiah pointed out.
The former deputy chief minister in the N. Dharam Singh government was suspended from the party for organising a string of rallies in the state to mobilise backward classes, dalits and minorities on a single platform, in association with second-rung Congress leaders.
Siddaramaiah further distanced from the JD-S by floating the All India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD) as a regional outfit to contest the local bodies elections in December and managed to win in a couple of districts, including Mysore, a strong bastion of the Janata parivar.
Siddaramaiah was served a show-cause notice by Deve Gowda for defying the party's whip and voting in favour of Congress candidate Sudarshan in the recent legislative council elections.fc/am (IANS)
