Top Karnataka Congress MLA Withdraws Resignation

Senior Karnataka Congress legislator R. Ramalinga Reddy withdrew resignation from his Assembly seat (BTM Layout in Bengaluru South) and attended the ongoing Assembly session for a trust vote moved by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to prove majority, a party official said on Thursday.

In some relief to the embattled coalition government in Karnataka, Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy Wednesday said he has decided to withdraw his resignation from the assembly and will vote in favour of the trust vote to be sought by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. (PTI)

BENGALURU: Senior Karnataka Congress legislator R. Ramalinga Reddy withdrew resignation from his Assembly seat (BTM Layout in Bengaluru South) and attended the ongoing Assembly session for a trust vote moved by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to prove majority, IANS quoted Congress official as saying on Thursday. "Reddy withdrew his resignation letter from Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar before entering the Assembly for the day's session and participated in the debate on the confidence motion Kumaraswamy moved earlier in the day to prove he has majority in the House," party spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS. Reddy, a former minister, is among the 13 Congress and three JDS MLAs who have tendered their resignations while two independent legislators have withdrawn their support to the 14-month old Kumaraswamy government, leaving it tottering on the brink of collapse.

Since the eight-time lawmaker submitted his resignation letter in the Speaker's office on July 6 along with nine party legislators and three of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), the ruling Congress has been wooing a miffed Reddy to withdraw his resignation and attend the crucial 10-day Monsoon Session which began on July 12.

"Though I resigned from my Assembly seat for various reasons, including negligence by the party leadership and non-release of development funds to my constituency, I reconciled to retain the Assembly seat and vote in favour of the confidence motion to save the government," Reddy, 66, told reporters here outside the state Secretariat where the state legislature is located. Unlike other rebels, Reddy stayed put in Bengaluru and did not go to the Supreme Court along with 15 other rebels for its direction to the Speaker to accept their resignations forthwith. "I have been thinking of quitting for some time not because I was not made minister or given a post in this government as I never lobbied for such things. There are issues and concerns which are internal to the party," he clarified. In a related development, about 10 of the rebel legislators who also resigned and were staying in Mumbai regretted that Reddy had gone back on his word, withdrew his resignation and is attending the session. "He (Reddy) cheated us. Though he is our senior leader in the party, we will not follow him and resign but remain united to ensure the coalition government goes," the rebels said in a video that was relayed on local news channels from Mumbai.