N Mahesh, BSP Minister in Kumaraswamy cabinet, resigns
Bengaluru : Following disagreements between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress with regard to seat-sharing in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh elections, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister and BSP state president N Mahesh submitted his resignation to the Governor on Thursday. Official confirmation from the Governor’s office is awaited.
“I have resigned. From now on, I will focus on the activities of my constituency and my party. I have resigned from my position as minister, but my support is with HD Kumaraswamy. There are no doubts regarding this. In the upcoming bye-polls, whether it is Ramanagara, Mandya, Shivamogga or Ballari, wherever JD(S) candidates will take part in elections, I will be supporting them,” Mahesh told reporters.
An official confirmation from the Governor’s office is awaited.
Mahesh was the lone BSP MLA in the state, elected from Kollegal constituency in Chamarajanagar district. The JD(S) and BSP were the only pre-poll alliance before the May 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. In fact, BSP supremo Mayawati had addressed multiple rallies alongside JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, his son and present Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
When the friction between the Congress and BSP was first reported, Mahesh had hinted that he will give up his position if his party chief wants him to.
“If behenji asks me to resign and quit from the coalition government, I will do it,” N Mahesh had said on October 4.
However, contrary to Thursday’s statements, he had earlier said, “I am openly saying this — cadres and workers of the BJP, Congress and Janata Dal do not understand our ideology. They don’t even want to understand. This is because as long as there is caste politics, the BJP and Congress will continue to exist. The day caste is removed from this society, we will have the BSP in power. I am saying this out of my experience. I have been an MLA, and now a minister for four months.”
The BSP was expected to be part of the alliance against the BJP for the 2019 general elections, with the Congress touted to play a central role in it. However, things at the present look grim for the alliance, as even the Samajwadi Party is reportedly unhappy with the treatment meted out by the Congress.
