JD(S) MLA KM Shivalinge Gowda on Sunday, 2 April, resigned, ahead of the 10 May Assembly polls in Karnataka, and is likely to join the Congress.
The sitting MLA from the Arsikere constituency met Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri in Bengaluru and submitted his resignation letter.
Gowda, a three-time MLA from Arsikere in the Hassan district, has been vocal about his differences with the JD(S) leadership and maintained a distance from the party, in recent days.
He had recently announced that his next move is towards the Congress, and is likely to be fielded by that party as its candidate from Arsikere in the upcoming polls.
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Of 3 JD(S) MLAs, 1 to BJP, 2 to Congress
Gowda is the third JD(S) MLA to quit the JD(S) in the last few days.
The party’s Gubbi MLA SR Srinivas (Gubbi Srinivas alias Vasu) resigned on 27 March and joined the Congress on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Arkalgud MLA AT Ramaswamy quit the party on Friday to join the BJP.
Meanwhile, former minister A Manju, who has earlier been with both the Congress and the BJP, and had represented the Arkalgud constituency in the past, recently joined the JD(S) and is the party’s likely candidate in the constituency.
Reports suggest that another JD(S) MLA from Arsikere in Hassan district, Shivalinge Gowda, is also likely to resign from the JD(S) party soon to join the Congress.
Hassan district is a stronghold of the JD(S) party where, out of seven constituencies, the party won six seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.
The one constituency that JD(S) lost in 2018 was to BJP’s Preetham Gowda. And now with Ramaswamy’s induction into the party, the BJP is eyeing two seats in Hassan for its strategic entry and gradually capturing the Vokkaliga dominant Old Mysuru region.
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(With PTI inputs)
