Two JD(S) MLAs, Manappa Vajjal from Lingasagur (SC Reserve) and Dr S Shivaraj Patil from Raichur City, on Thursday quit their Assembly membership and joined the BJP, ahead of the coming Assembly elections.
Soon after submitting their resignation letters to Assembly Secretary (incharge) S Murthy at the Vidhana Soudha, the two leaders drove to the BJP office in Malleshwaram and joined the party. State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar inducted them into the party by giving them the party flag.
The MLAs told the media that the JD(S) leadership had sidelined them for the last one year. "We were not taken into confidence on many occasions. The party refused to address our grouses. Hence, we were forced to exit the party and join the BJP," they added.
Yeddyurappa said the BJP has grown in strength with the two MLAs joining the party. Many more leaders of the Congress and the JD(S) will be joining the BJP in coming days, he added.
Earlier, the Assembly secretary said he will forward the resignation letters to Speaker K B Koliwad. "The letters have been addressed to the Speaker, but they have submitted the same to me. As per the rules, they are supposed to submit the letters to the Speaker directly. I have explained the rules to them, but they insisted that I should accept them. They said that they had met the Speaker last night, and that he had asked them to submit the letters to me," said Murthy.
Koliwad was not in his office when the MLAs went to submit their resignation letters.
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