Karnataka: JD-S leader M P Prakash quits party

It was a decision waiting to be taken officially. Senior Janata Dal-Secular leader M P Prakash on Wednesday quit the party.

He has, however, kept all options open and says that his future course of action will be decided in a few days.

Prakash made this announcement at a press conference convened at Bangalore on Wednesday.

Prakash said his intention was always to follow value based politics and since his ideologies did not match with the JD-S, he had taken the decision to quit.

Along with Prakash, 11 other legislators from the JD-S too quit the party. All these ex-MLAs have unanimously agreed to Prakash being their leader and have said that the decision taken by him would be abided by all of them.

Prakash was non-committal on his next course of action.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United are trying to woo him into their respective parties, Prakash said he would take a final decision in this regard in a few days.

Prakash, who is backed by 11 JD-S ex-MLAs and nine others which include former MPs, MLCs and independent candidates said that a committee headed by him had been formed.

This committee would meet in a few days and a decision on whether to join another party or float a new one would be taken.

He said that all his supporters had authorised him to take a decision on the next course of action.

Prakash seemed a bit emotional while bidding adieu to the party to which he had contributed a lot over the years. He thanked the leaders of the JD-S for all the support they had given him, but also added that the marriage had to end due to difference in ideologies.

Even as Prakash announced his decision to quit, several parties including the BJP, JD-U and the Bahujan Samaj Party made efforts to take him into their fold.

All these parties will have to wait a while before Prakash makes his final decision.

The Congress will be another party which will try and bid for Prakash. The Congress leader in Karnataka Mallikarjun Kharge said that Prakash is most welcome to join the party provided he is ready to adapt to the Congress ideology.