Bengaluru, Oct 15: It’s official. Former minister and Channapatna MLA C P Yogeshwar has quit the primary membership of the Congress and despatched his resignation letter to KPCC president G Parameshwara.
Confessing that he is least bothered about ‘party-hopper’ tag, Yogeshwar blamed energy minister D K Shivakumar and his brother, MP (Bengaluru Rural) D K Suresh, for scuttling his prospects in the Congress.
“The tag of a "turncoat" or "party-hopper" does not mean anything to me as I have made my name in the constituency and people are with me," he said. “On October 22, I have called for a meeting of my supporters and we will decide the future course of action. I have no problem with either the JD(S) or the BJP, and it does not matter who comes to power," he added.
With six months to go for the 2018 assembly elections, this will be a huge blow to CM Siddaramaiah's intentions of keeping his flock together in the old Mysuru region.
Yogeshwar won on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2013 and joined the Congress as an associate member in 2014. He had declared himself as an Independent MLA, which is why it's not necessary for him to quit the assembly membership.
The actor-turned-politician has switched parties on many occasions. He contested as an Independent MLA and won in 1999. From 2004 to 2008, he was with the Congress. He joined the BJP under the Operation Lotus, won in the bypoll and was made a minister in the BJP government. In 2013, he quit the BJP to join Samajwadi Party. In 2014, he joined the Congress again.
Yogeshwar said: "Even in the past, Shivakumar hindered my chances of becoming a minister under Dharam Singh, but I forgot about it. In 2014, during the parliamentary elections, he approached me at a public function and sought my support for his brother. I agreed and helped him. But the Congress and Shivakumar used me and sidelined me. So I decided to quit."
The Channapatna MLA said JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy had called him once and there were talks of shifting him to Maddur constituency , with the former's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy likely to win from Channapatna in 2018. "But the work I have done in Channapatna will be futile. So I am yet to decide," he said. Meanwhile, the BJP has adopted a wait-and-watch policy.
"Unlike the other parties he was associated with, Yogeshwar was given the utmost freedom in Congress. He will never get such freedom in other parties. His quitting the party will not have any impact on the Congress," said Shivakumar.
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