Kundapur MLA Haladi resigns

Kundapur MLA Haladi Srinivasa Shetty submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah on Tuesday. 

“I resigned not because I did not get a ministerial berth, but because the people of my constituency were insulted,” Haladi said, emerging from the Speaker’s office.

Bopaiah has accepted Shetty’s resignation and a notification to this effect has been issued. 

Shettar entered the Vidhana Soudha alone on Tuesday. On the day the Shettar Cabinet was formed, he claimed he was  humiliated by the party. Several BJP MLAs, including Raghupati Bhat and Baindoor Lakshminarayana, were with him then. But today, he stands isolated.

Haladi’s name was removed from the list of ministerial probables at the last minute on Thursday and replaced with that of  Kota Srinivas Poojary, an MLC. 

A hurt Shetty said he had never sought a ministerial berth, but decided to accept the same at the insistence of his colleagues.

Haladi’s resignation and the unrest in the BJP camp in coastal Karnataka have brought to the fore the alleged interference of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the political affairs of the party.

While the RSS has maintained it was only a “guiding” body and never interfered in the daily functioning of the BJP government, Haladi has blamed RSS functionary Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for scuttling his chances of making to the Cabinet.

According to sources, Bhat was upset that Haladi did not take active part in the programmes organised by the RSS. Their relationship soured when Bhat ensured Krishnaprasad Adyanthyaya, a native of Bhatwal, was made the managing trustee of the Kollur Mookambika temple in Kundapur taluk. Shetty wanted a local to be nominated for the post. 

As soon as Bhat got to know Haladi was getting a ministerial berth, he reportedly called up Jadagish Shettar and Ananth Kumar, both with RSS background, urging them to drop his name from the list.  

Asked if he will quit the BJP, Haladi, a three-time legislator, said, “I will not take any decision in haste. I will consult my voters and then decide.” JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy has been in touch with Haladi.

I’m pained by his decision: CM

New Delhi: Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar expressed his confidence on Tuesday that Haladi Srinivas Shetty would remain in the BJP.

Reacting to Haladi’s resignation, the chief minister said: “Though I met the disgruntled legislator thrice and requested him not to tender his resignation, I failed convince him. I am pained by his decision. I hope, being a loyal party worker, he will not take the hasty decision of quitting the party.” 

“If required, I will meet him again and try to convince him,” Shettar said. Sources also said the chief minister along with his deputies, K S Eshwarappa and R Ashoka met BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and discussed developments in the State unit, including Haladi’s resignation.

Leaders also discussed appointing a new president to the State unit.