RS polls debacle: JDS cracks the whip on 2 rebel MLAs; expels them from party

‎Bengaluru:‎‎ The Janata Dal (S) on Wednesday expelled two of its MLAs on charges of cross voting during the Rajya Sabha elections for four seats in Karnataka held recently.

A decision to this effect was taken during the core committee meeting held at the party headquarter JP Bhavan. The party also decided to seek their disqualification from the Karnataka assembly, party’s core committee president Bandeppa Kashempur told reporters.

Former Prime Minister and party supremo H D Deve Gowda, state president C M Ibrahim, MLA and Deve Gowda’s son H D Revanna, MP and Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna, Jafarulla Khan, M Krishna Reddy, Raja Venkatappa Naik and others attended the meeting.

“It was decided in the meeting to write to the Karnataka Assembly Speaker, seeking the disqualification of the two MLAs from the Karnataka Assembly under the Anti-Defection Law. The complaint will be lodged to the speaker either tomorrow or day-after-tomorrow,” Kashempur said.

According to him, detailed discussions were held in the core committee on the developments during the recent Rajya Sabha elections to four seats in the state.

While Kolar MLA K Srinivas Gowda had accepted that he had voted for the Congress candidate, Mansoor Ali Khan, instead of his party candidate, the Gubbi MLA S R Srinivas has been charged with voting for the BJP, though he refuted the charge and insisted that he voted for Reddy only.

In Karnataka, the BJP won three RS seats and Congress one.