SIRSI: Kudligi BJP MLA NY Gopalakrishna on Friday resigned as legislator, ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka.
He met Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri at his office here in Uttara Kannada district and submitted the resignation.
Amid speculations that he may join Congress, Gopalakrishna said he was considering retirement from politics. "My age is 72, and at this age...I cannot take the responsibility due to age and health factors...I have not thought about joining another party and my plan is to retire from politics," he said.
Gopalakrishna also indicated that his sons' desire to contest the polls from "any of the parties" was one of the reasons for his resignation as an MLA.
According to reports, he had recently met and held discussions with senior State Congress leaders D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
Gopalakrishna, a six-time MLA, was earlier with the Congress and had got elected from Molakalmuru Assembly segment in Chitradurga district four times, and once from Ballari, before joining the BJP and winning from Kudligi.
On not getting the Congress ticket in 2018, he joined the BJP ahead of the elections. The party gave him a ticket from Kudligi in Vijayanagara district instead of Molakalmuru, as senior leader Sriramulu was fielded from there.
He won from Molakalmuru.
Earlier this month, two MLCs from BJP -- Puttanna and Baburao Chinchansur -- quit from their Legislative Council membership to join the Congress.
JD(S) MLA S R Srinivas (Gubbi Srinivas alias Vasu) on Thursday joined the Congress, after resigning as MLA on March 27.
Shivakumar said on Thursday that there was a "long list of people" wishing to join the Congress and it would be made known in stages, in the days to come.
