Umesh Jadhav, one of the four rebel MLAs of Congress in Karnataka, has resigned from the party. According to reports, Jadav has submitted his resignation to KR Ramesh Kumar, the speaker of Karnataka assembly.

Visual: Congress MLA Dr. Umesh Jadhav (right in pic) submits his resignation to the Speaker of the Karnataka assembly. pic.twitter.com/Sr9Q7kuBDm — ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

Though the reasons behind his resignations are yet to be announced, it is being speculated that he will soon join the BJP and will be their MP candidate from Kalburgi constituency in the upcoming general elections against Congress stalwart Mallikarjuna Kharge. Jadhav has been particularly opposed to the functioning of Kharge’s son Priyank, who is the social welfare minister of Karnataka.

Jadhav is a two-time MLA from the Chincholi constituency. He has been in the news in the recent weeks when four Congress MLAs, namely Ramesh Jarkiholi, Umesh Jadhav, Mahesh Kamitalli, and B Nagendra had missed the Budget session in the Karnataka assembly defying the party whip. They had also missed the Congress legislative party meeting.

Following their absence even after the party whip, CLP chief Siddaramaiah had announced that he will approach the speaker to take strong action against them. On February 11, Congress had sought their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

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Umesh Jadhav was removed as the chairman of the warehouse corporation. The JDS-Congress coalition had alleged that the BJP is trying to bring down the government. Congress had 80 MLAs in the 224 seat Karnataka assembly.

The Congress-JDS coalition has been a ride full of turmoil and mistrust. Many of the senior Congress MLAs have reportedly being upset over denial of cabinet berths and lucrative posts. JDS, despite having only far fewer MLAs, holds much of the power and sway in the government.