Prakash-led rebel group quits JD-S in Karnataka

Dec 12, 2007, 16:38 GMT

Bangalore, Dec 12 (IANS) Fourteen members of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), led by former senior minister M.P. Prakash, Wednesday resigned from the party, citing the allegedly dictatorial style of functioning of its chief H.D. Deve Gowda.

The rebels, including 12 former members of the state assembly and two members of the legislative council, at a meeting held at Prakash's house in the city decided to part ways with Deve Gowda and his two sons, former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and H.D. Revanna.

In a resolution, adopted at the two-hour long meeting, the rebel group criticised Deve Gowda, a former prime minister, for deciding to vote against the eight-day-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government Nov 19.

'The recent political developments in the state have made all of us hang our heads in shame. We have decided to severe our relationship with the party in pain, as there is no internal democracy and decisions were taken unilaterally by one leader,' the resolution said.

Prakash told reporters after the meeting the rebels would send their resignation letters and a copy of the resolution to the party's state unit president Merajuddin Patel and Kumaraswamy in a day or two.

'We thank all our party colleagues and leaders. We have come a long way. Hence there's no chance of retracing our steps. We will remain friends with Kumaraswamy and other leaders,' Prakash said.

Ruling out forming another regional party, Prakash said the group would explore options of joining any one of the existing parties - the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party or Janata Dal-United.

'We are not going to float any party because such parties formed earlier in the state even by stalwarts like Devaraj Urs did not succeed as they were not acceptable to the people. We will decide which party to join soon,' he said.

Among the noted rebels are H.S. Mahadev Prasad, Santosh Lad, Amaregouda Bayyapura and B.T. Chennabasappa.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service