Karnataka Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday said he will remain with the party and vote in favour of the government during the trust vote in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, The News Minute reported. Reddy, one of the 16 rebel MLAs, said in a statement that after several rounds of talks with the Congress leaders and the high command, he decided to stay with the party.
“Due to several occurrences within the Congress party, I had resigned on July 6, 2018, as the MLA of BTM Layout,” Reddy said. “I have never sought or demanded a ministerial post. I have been with the Congress party for the last 45 years and I have been an MLA seven times. I had only resigned as an MLA but I had never said I would move away from the Congress.”
The veteran Congress leader said he had received several requests from party workers to withdraw his resignation. However, Reddy did not clarify whether he would do so. “I tendered my resignation to the Speaker,” he said. “I will not talk about whether I am withdrawing my resignation or not. I will discuss it with the Speaker and then make an announcement.”
While the majority MLAs who resigned were closeted in a Mumbai hotel, Reddy had preferred to stay in Bengaluru. Other MLAs who remained in Karnataka but did not withdraw their resignations include Munirathna Naidu, Roshan Baig, K Sudhakar and Anand Singh. Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar has not yet accepted any resignation yet.
Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (Secular) issued a whip to all its MLAs, including rebels H Vishwanath, Narayana Gowda, H Gopalaiah, to be present for the trust vote at the Vidhana Soudha on Thursday, ANI reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the rebel legislators from the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) cannot be compelled to take part in the floor test on Thursday. While the Congress called the verdict a “bad judgement”, Bharatiya Janata Party state chief BS Yeddyurappa welcomed it.
The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) had 116 MLAs in the 224-member state Assembly before the crisis began. With the resignations of 16 MLAs, its strength has reduced to 100. As many as 113 seats are needed for a majority. However, the rebel legislators said earlier on Wednesday that there was no question of attending the trust vote in the Assembly.
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