Congress lawmaker Prasad resigns from Karnataka assembly

Ruling Congress lawmaker Srinivas Prasad on Monday resigned as member of the Karnataka legislative assembly, nearly four months after he was dropped from the cabinet as Revenue Minister.

"I was deeply hurt as the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah), whom I know for years, dropped me from the cabinet without even giving a hint," Prasad told reporters here after submitting the resignation letter to assembly Speaker K.B. Koliwad in the Vidhana Saudha here.

Prasad, 68, represents the ruling party from the Nanjangud reserved (SC) assembly segment in Mysuru district, about 175 km from Bengaluru.

"I will soon resign from the primary membership of the Congress as I have been dropped unceremoniously though I wanted a decent political retirement," asserted Prasad.

Prasad was among the 14 ministers dropped from the cabinet in a major reshuffle of the three-year-old ministry.

Prasad, who was a Union minister for Civil Supplies in the Vajpayee-led NDA government from 1999-2004, rejoined the Congress in 2005. He resigned from the erstwhile Janata Dal (United) when the party had split in the state in 1999.

Holding AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, party's leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge and party's state unit president and state Home Minister G. Parameshwara responsible for his ouster, Prasad lamented that a coterie of six leaders were controlling the party and the government in the state.

Admitting that leaders of the opposition BJP and JD-S had approached him to join their parties, Prasad said he would consult his followers, well-wishers and friends before deciding his future political career.

A veteran Dalit leader, Prasad was a five-time Lok Sabha lawmaker from the Chamarajanagar reserved (SC) Lok Sabha constituency as a Congress member from 1980 to 1996 and as Janata Dal (United) member from 1999 to 2004.

--IANS

fb/rn