Karnataka coalition crisis: Rebel Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy in dilemma over joining BJP

Sources close to Ramalinga Reddy reportedly said that he will “not violate” the Congress whip

Bengaluru, First Published Jul 17, 2019, 12:34 PM IST | Last Updated Jul 17, 2019, 12:34 PM IST

Bengaluru: Despite the top Congress leaders reaching out to him on Sunday (July 14), BTM Layout (Bengaluru) MLA and senior Congress leader R Ramalinga Reddy kept his party leaders on tenterhooks for almost three days over whether he would quit the party.

Sources close to Reddy reportedly said on Tuesday (July 16) that he will “not violate” the Congress whip, indicating that he will not quit the party he has been with for 47 years.

However, reports stated that he is still in a dilemma as to whether to join the BJP as it would also benefit his daughter, Soumya Reddy’s career. This indicated that if he quits the Congress, his daughter would follow suit.

Soumya represents Jayanagar (Bengaluru) in the Karnataka Assembly, one where the saffron party is battling a vacuum in local leadership. However, Reddy is worried about the repercussions his daughter will have to face if he quits the party.

Reddy is under pressure from the state Congress leadership as they hope that if he returns to the party he can bring back the other Bengaluru MLAs as well.

According to reports, Reddy has been assured of the Bengaluru development portfolio if the HD Kumaraswamy government survives.

Yeshwanthpur MLA ST Somashekar and KR Puram MLA Byrathi Basavaraju have been reportedly pressurising Reddy leading to him joining the rebel MLAs.

Reddy was scheduled to meet Karnataka Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Monday to explain his reason for resigning but he did not.

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