The political crisis facing the coalition government in Karnataka suffered another blow after Congress MLA Roshan Baig said that he will resign from the Assembly.
"My decision is that basically I am hurt. The way the party has treated me and suspended me. No action was taken against those who worked against the party in the recent election. I was suspended just because I spoke the bitter truth that the state leadership failed in managing the entire election campaign", Roshan told ANI.
Roshan had recently criticised senior Congress leaders over the poor results in the Lok Sabha elections. He was also linked to a Ponzi scheme in Shivajinagar, the constituency he represents.
He further confirmed to the news agency that he will not be going to a resort in Goa and will stay in Bengaluru to formalise his resignation on Tuesday.
His resignation is set to take the number of MLAs supporting the coalition down from the current number of 105 (including Speaker).
The BJP has the support of 107 MLAs. The resignations of 13 Congress + JDS MLAs are yet to be accepted.
The halfway mark in the House will now be reduced to 106 as the quorum will be reduced to 211.
Roshan's claim comes as no surprise after he was suspended by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) for his outburst against its senior leaders. In particular, he had termed former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as 'arrogant' and KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao as 'immature' in a tirade against the party's functioning.
Recently, he was also linked to a Ponzi scheme in his Shivajinagar constituency run by the founder of IMA Jewels, who allegedly defrauded hundreds of investors, mostly Muslims, in Bengaluru.
Mansoor Khan, the founder of IMA Jewels, in a widely circulated audio clip claimed that he had paid Rs 400 crore to Roshan Baig which had not been returned to him.
Even though the allegation was denied by the Shivajinagar MLA, other ministers in the Karnataka cabinet like RV Deshpande told media persons that Roshan Baig had known Mansoor earlier and was seeking a loan from him.