Bangarappa floats own party

NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa finally took the plunge today and resigned from the Congress party. His resignation has been on the cards for several weeks following his failure to get himself nominated to the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

“You are in the habit of creating groupism within the party in all the states and in this way, you have succeeded finishing the party,” he charged Congress president Sitaram Kesri in his resignation letter. “Since the leadership at the top has failed in all respects, party workers and leaders are fed up with the situation within the party,” he added. Bangarappa’s resignation, although expected, is the first indication of the infighting that is likely to erupt in the Congress in the run-up to the elections.

The BJP is hoping to rope him into a broad front in Karnataka to fight the Congress-Hegde combination which is in the process of being negotiated.

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In a related development, Bangarappa met Election Commissioner GVG Krishnamurty today and discussed plans for registration of a party to be launched by him.

The name of his party is likely to be `Karnataka Vikas’ Party.