Cong to seek disqualification of 4 ‘rebel’ MLAs

The Congress has decided to seek the disqualification of four disgruntled legislators, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah announced here on Friday.

The party will move a petition for disqualification of Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), Umesh Jadhav (Chincholi) and B Nagendra (Bellary). These four legislators have given the Congress sleepless nights for several weeks on end as they are said to have been in touch with the BJP.

The trigger for the drastic decision of seeking their disqualification was their absence in the special CLP meet that was convened Friday morning.

“All the four have sent me letters today. Jadhav has said he is preoccupied, Ramesh said he has a marriage (to attend), Mahesh has said he’s unwell and Nagendra has said he was personal work. They’ve said they can’t attend the ongoing budget session of legislature till its conclusion on February 15,” Siddaramaiah said.

The four MLAs came under the party’s scanner when they skipped the CLP meet held on January 18. “Show-cause notices were issued seeking their explanation. They responded saying they were loyal to the Congress and wouldn’t leave the party. I wrote back, asking them to personally meet me and justify their stand. They didn’t come,” Siddaramaiah said.

Then, the four have violated the whip by not attending the ongoing Assembly session. “I mentioned all these things in the CLP meet and the unanimous opinion was that I should proceed further to take legal action under anti-detection law. Sufficient opportunity was given to these MLAs. Therefore, I’ve decided to approach the Speaker with a petition requesting him to take action under the anti-defection law of Schedule 10 of the Constitution,” Siddaramaiah said.