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Updated: Apr 01, 2019 22:33 IST

Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Monday accepted the resignation of rebel Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate.

Jadhav had resigned as MLA of the Chincholi Assembly constituency last month even as he was facing proceedings under the Anti-defection laws for violating a whip issued by the Congress party ahead of the Budget session in February.

Jadhav was one of four rebel MLAs who had not attended two meetings of the Congress Legislature Party in January and February.

On February 8, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had leaked an audio clip of a purported recording of a conversation between BS Yeddyurappa and the son of a JD(S) MLA’s son, where it was alleged by an unknown person that Kumar had been paid Rs 50 crore to accept resignations of MLAs from the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition.

In his order, Kumar says that in our legal order verdict and justice sometimes don’t go hand in hand.

“People in Constitutional posts have the power to pass a verdict but not to establish justice. Verdict is always based on evidence. It is difficult to give legal protection for morality,” the order reads.

Further, since the resignation was provided under the prescribed format and as Jadhav convinced Kumar that the resignation was not tendered under duress, he accepted the resignation under Article 190(3)B of the Constitution.

Speaking to HT, Jadhav said he was always certain that Kumar would uphold the law. “I am grateful to the Speaker for accepting my resignation. Even though I was asked to attend an enquiry, which has no legal backing, I agreed to undergo it voluntarily to convince the Speaker of my intention to resign,” he said.

Repeated attempts to reach Kumar for comment through phone calls and messages went unanswered.

With this, the effective strength of the assembly has been reduced to 223. The BJP has 104 MLAs and the coalition enjoys the support of 79 Congress MLAs, 37 JD(S) MLAs, and one BSP and independent MLA. Their combined strength stands at 118, including the Speaker.