Bengaluru, Jan 20: The Congress will issue showcause notice to MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumatalli under the anti-defection law which sets the provisions for disqualification of elected members.
An elected member can be disqualified on two grounds: if he/she voluntarily gives up the membership of a party on which the person had got elected or if the MLA votes or abstains from voting contrary to the party’s directions without prior permission. With indications that Jarkiholi and Kumatalli are planning to resign and join the BJP, the Congress wants to pre-empt it.
Congress sources said there was “circumstantial evidence” to prove that both had defied the party’s diktat. Regarding the other MLAs who were absent—Umesh Jadhav and B Nagendra— the party has decided to go slow.
However, it is said that Jadhav might also go to the BJP as the party had identified him as the Lok Sabha candidate from Kalaburagi to take on Congress leader Mallikarjun M Kharge. His letter expressing his inability to attend the CLP meeting on Friday was on technical grounds.
Sources said Jadhav, a doctor and a government employee, was brought into politics by late former chief minister N Dharam Singh. “Jadhav’s fight is against the Kharge family and the BJP wants to take on Kharge, who is close to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” they added.
The party will give Jarkiholi and Kumatalli three days to reply before initiating legal proceedings under the Act. “We’ve consulted legal experts on this,’’ sources said.
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