Karnataka Congress MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav submitted his resignation on Monday as the MLA of Chincholi in Gulbarga district in Karnataka ending days of speculation that he was planning to leave the party. He submitted his resignation in person to Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar.

According to political observers, the disgruntled MLA is likely to contest against Congress heavyweight Mallikarjun Kharge, the current leader of the party in Lok Sabha, from the Gulbarga seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The same has been suggested by his brother Ramachandra in a recent interview with Deccan Herald.

The tiff between the Jadhavs and the Kharges is not new. Incidentally, Umesh had made his displeasure known after he failed to get a ministerial role, while Priyank Kharge, a first-time MLA, was inducted into the cabinet by then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2013. Even CM HD Kumaraswamy in the coalition government in 2018 did not induct Umesh into his cabinet while Priyank made the cut again.

Umesh was one of the four MLAs whom Congress top brass wanted to be disqualified for not following the party whip in attending the Budget session of the state Assembly. The four MLAs — former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi from Gokak, Mahesh Kumathalli Athani, B Nagendra from Bellary assembly seats and Jadhav had failed to attend a special legislative party meet called ahead of the budget session on February 8. Prior to this, they were issued show cause notices for not attending a special legislative party meet earlier in January at the Eagleton resort.

On February 11, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao submitted a petition to the Speaker in his chamber under the anti-defection law.

The four had claimed to be loyal to the party in letter written as a reply to the show cause notice.