N Mahesh-Bahujan Samaj Party leader in Kumaraswamy cabinet, resigns

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Oct 11, 2018 : Bahujan Samaj Party leader N Mahesh, the Primary and Secondary Education Minister in the Karntaka cabinet, has resigned.

 

Mahesh said he would continue to support Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal (Secular) party, which formed a coalition government in Karnataka this year. He said he would back the JD(S) in upcoming by-elections.

This comes after BSP chief Mayawati ruled out alliances with the Congress, the JD(S)’s alliance partner in Karnataka, in two upcoming state polls.

Mahesh had said he would walk out of the coalition in Karnataka if Mayawati asked him to.

Sources close to Chief Minister Kumaraswamy said Mayawati asked him to drop Mahesh, as he’d made unwanted comments that it’s because of him that the BSP won a seat in Karnataka. The CM didn’t act on that. Today, she instructed Mahesh to step down.

In the Karnataka state election, it was the BJP which was invited to form a government after it emerged as the single largest party. But the Supreme Court advanced BJP leader Yeddyurappa’s floor test, and he resigned before it could take place. The BSP and the Congress then formed a government.