Bengaluru : Waited till the announcement of assembly election to five state in which his ‘Grand Old Party’ suffered a humiliate defeat, the Congress MLC CM Ibrahim, on Saturday has announced to quit the party. He will join JD(S) shortly.
Disappointed after being denied the post of Leader of Congress in Karnataka Legislative Council, last month, Ibrahim told that he would quit not only the party but also resign to his council membership.
“I am quitting the Congress. I will send the resignation letter to Council,” he told media a day after the party announced another veteran, BK Hariprasad, as its leader in the Council. “I have not informed anyone in the KPCC about my decision. I will send by letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi,” Ibrahim said.
He told news persons on Saturday “I had told the party to conduct elections to elect the leader of the party. I had said if I did not have the numbers, do not make me the leader. However, I had the backing of 19 (of the 26 Congress members in Council) members.”
Ibrahim the veteran politician, who was also union civil aviation minister in H. D. Deve Gowda-led cabinet in 1996, had been eyeing the post of Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, after S.R. Patil, who was denied party ticket to contest from Local Authorities constituency, was set to retire on January 5. Mr. Ibrahim, elected from Karnataka Legislative Assembly, has term till June 17, 2024.
Mr. Ibrahim, party sources said, had also met Janata Dal (Secular) leaders Mr. Deve Gowda and H. D. Kumaraswamy, who are learnt to have offered him a “good position” in the party. Congress leaders, including the general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, had met Mr. Ibrahim to pacify him. Sources said that in the recent months, the minority leader had also distanced himself from former Chief Minister and a long-term associate from Janata Parivar days, Siddaramaiah.
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