JOIN US Former minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday resigned as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), but the BJP central leadership once again deferred the announcement of his candidature from the Bellary seat as the saffron party failed to resolve its differences on fielding him.
The party earlier indicated the candidature of Sriramulu from Bellary seat and said it will be officially announced after placing the matter before the central election committee. However, at the meeting held in New Delhi, the issue did not come up, apparently due to differences among several senior leaders, sources said.
Despite the BJP Karnataka unit giving green signal to fielding Sriramulu from Bellary, a close friend of the Reddy brothers, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj openly opposed his re-entry.
In Bangalore, Sriramulu, who had won the Bellary Rural Assembly seat on a BSR Congress ticket in the 2013 elections, submitted his resignation letter to Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa. Sriramulu had joined the BJP last week, but had not resigned as legislator.
The move comes after the BJP central leadership disfavoured the merger of BSR Congress with the party. They had offered the Bellary ticket to Sriramulu on the condition that he quit his BSR Congress party.