Ramamurthy, a former IPS officer-turned-businessman, is likely to join the ruling BJP in coming days, party sources said. (ANI)CONGRESS MP from Karnataka K C Ramamurthy on Wednesday resigned from the Rajya Sabha and also from the party, indicating he might join the BJP while rubbishing claims that he quit fearing I-T searches.
His resignation as MP has been accepted by House Chairman M Venkaiah Nadu, sources said in Delhi.
Ramamurthy, a former IPS officer-turned-businessman, is likely to join the ruling BJP in coming days, party sources said.
The Karnataka Congress said that it can do little to prevent Ramamurthy from resigning since it was his personal decision.
“We cannot do anything about these things. It is their personal decision. What can we do if they take a decision like this? If they want to join the BJP they can do it because this is a democracy. The BJP has made it a business to lure leaders of other parties and to blackmail them through IT raids, ED raids and other tactics. It is not just politicians who are being pressured but everybody is being targeted. A lot of people fall prey to this out of fear. They may go out of fear or some allurements,” said Dinesh Gundu Rao, president of the Karnataka Congress.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Ramamurthy, 67, said he has resigned from the Rajya Sabha and also from the Congress. He said he wanted his experience to be used “properly in the path of progress and development.”
To a question about reports that he would soon join the BJP, he said he was keeping that option open.
Ramamurthy said he had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi informing her about his resignation and clarified he has noting against any leader of the party. He dismissed claims that he quit Congress under pressure of BJP or fearing I-T searches. “There is no such thing,” he said.
Ramamurthy runs a group of successful educational institutions in Karnataka, which offer professional and other courses for students. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 with Congress support and cross voting by JD(S) legislators.
Two Congress politicians — former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and former minister R L Jalappa — who run educational institutions were subjected to investigations by the I-T department last week over alleged tax evasion in fees.