Both leaders gave up their Lok Sabha seats as BJP suspects that Congress-JD(S) alliance may not last longer and it could get a chance to form a govt in Karnataka.
New Delhi: Karnataka BJP leaders B.S. Yeddyurappa and R. Sreeramulu had resigned as Lok Sabha MPs a day before the floor test in the state assembly, but their names still figure in the list of BJP parliamentarians on the Lok Sabha website, ThePrint has found.
The confusion has raised questions over whether the party is in two minds over the resignations and its strength in the Lok Sabha.
While Yeddyurappa won from Shikaripura, Sreeramulu bagged the Molkalmuru seat. He, however, lost another seat, Badami, to outgoing chief minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress.
BJP sources said the current Congress-JD(S) alliance may not last longer and the party could get a chance to form government in the state.
The BJP sources also claimed that forming a government in Karnataka is more important than maintaining the party’s strength in the Lok Sabha.
Both leaders had sent their resignations to the Lok Sabha Speaker on 18 May, ThePrint has learnt.
Although Sreeramulu’s office told ThePrint that his resignation had not been accepted yet, the Bulletin II of the Lok Sabha website carried a letter specifying that their resignations were accepted by Speaker with effect from 18 May.
However, the two seats — Shimoga and Bellary — are yet to be declared as “vacant constituencies” as the Lok Sabha website has not been updated.
Apart from the BJP, JD(S) also made its Mandya MP C.S. Puttaraju contest the assembly elections from Melukote constituency. Puttaraju too won the elections. As a result, he also has resigned from the Lok Sabha necessitating a by-poll for Mandya seat along with two other seats in Karnataka.
“There could be delay in updating the website because of several reasons. But the fact that their resignation has been accepted is already there on Parliament’s website,” said an official from the Lok Sabha secretariat.
According to Rule 2 of the Prohibitions of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950, if a sitting MP becomes and an MLA, he has to decide within 14 days as to which membership he would give up.
On 28 May, there will be bye-elections for four vacant Lok Sabha seats out of five across the country. Three of them were won by the BJP in 2014.
With these four bypolls, the strength of the Lok Sabha would be 542. Even if the BJP loses these bypolls, they would have 273 MPs to maintain a clear majority in the house
Right now the party doesn’t face any challenge in terms of its majority in the house and that could be one reason for the quick resignation of Yeddyurappa and Sreeramulu as MPs.