Kundapur MLA Haladi Srinivas Shetty on Tuesday resigned his Assembly membership protesting the insult and the ill-treatment meted out to him during Cabinet formation.
Haladi who was upset over not being included in the newly-formed cabinet by Jagadish Shettar submitted his resignation to Speaker K G Bopaiah.
“I am resigning not because I did not get ministership but for a specific reason. I want to send a message to the society and the BJP leadership,” Haladi told reporters immediately after submitting his resignation.
The resignation of Haladi comes as a jolt to the ruling BJP as he was not only a popular leader in the coastal belt but was also a face of party’s ideology.
Fully aware of the damage that Haladi’s exit would cause, the party state leadership tried its best to persuade him not to resign. It had even sent Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar to Haladi but in vain.On his next move, Haladi did not reveal much but said he would consult his well-wishers before taking a decision. He said JD (S) state president H D Kumaraswamy had given him an invitation.