Karnataka: BSP MLA quits Congress-JDS alliance, resigns as minister

Bengaluru, Oct 11: BSP MLA N Mahesh, Primary and Secondary Education Minister in Congress-JDS coalition government, resigned on Thursday.

His resignation comes in the wake of Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo Mayawati boycotting the Congress ahead of the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan state elections and this has created ripples in Karnataka.

He had said that he will walk out of the Congress-JDS alliance if Mayawati asks him to. Mahesh had also accused the Congress, BJP, and Janata Dal of being castist parties.

"I'm saying this openly, whether it is Congress or BJP or Janata Dal, their workers will not understand the ideology that I'm speaking about. They don't need it because until there is this caste system and inequality- Congress, BJP and Janata Dal will continue to exist," Mr Mahesh said at a BSP event at Chamarajanagar.

"The day the caste system and inequality is eradicated, that day Bahujan Samaj Party, the party of Basavanna (12th-century social reformer) will come to power, " he said.

N Mahesh was the first MLA to become a minister outside Uttar Pradesh. He is the MLA from Chamarajanagar's Kollegal constituency.

(With PTI inputs)