Former minister and four-time Gubbi MLA SR Srinivas. (Photo | ANI)
BENGALURU: Former minister and four-time Gubbi MLA SR Srinivas of JDS tendered his resignation as MLA and submitted the letter to Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Monday. He is likely to join Congress on March 31. His quitting JDS means the party has lost an MLA in Tumakuru district, which was considered its stronghold.
The Vokkaliga leader called on Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president DK Shivakumar. In June 2022, he allegedly cross-voted in favour of BJP candidate Lehar Singh in the Rajya Sabha polls which led to JDS suspending him from the party. The veteran leader justified his decision to sever his ties with JDS, pointing out that senior party leader HD Kumaraswamy was pushing Nagaraju as an alternative candidate for the Gubbi for the 2023 polls.
In 2004, JDS fielded GS Shivananjappa, a Lingayat, from Gubbi, but Srinivas contested as a rebel candidate and won. He was later inducted into the party and he won three consecutive elections in 2008, 2013 and 2018.
He became a minister in the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. “When he was the minister, he had a grouse that Kumaraswamy did not approve one of the key projects he had proposed to set up coir industries across 55-60 taluks where the coconut is the main crop. The drift that began then prevailed and culminated in him quitting the party,” a close confidante of Srinivas said.
