Responding to Yatnal’s challenge, Minister Shivanand Patil resigns from Assembly, but Speaker rejects it

Minister Shivanand Patil submitting his resignation to Speaker U.T. Khader in Bengaluru on Friday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Sugar, Textiles, and Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil on Friday resigned from the membership of the Legislative Assembly, accepting a challenge from expelled BJP MLA and former Union Minister Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal. However, Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader rejected the resignation letter on the grounds that it was not submitted in the correct format.

Mr. Patil submitted the resignation letter to Mr. Khader with a rider. In his letter, Mr. Patil, who represents Basavana Bagevadi constituency in Vijayapura district, requested Mr. Khader to accept his resignation only if Mr. Yatnal too resigns from the membership of the Assembly and his resignation was accepted. Mr. Yatnal represents Vijayapura City Assembly constituency.

Background of case

Mr. Patil’s resignation follows a recent protest held in Vijayapura city against Mr. Yatnal for his alleged derogatory remarks against Muslims.

Mr. Patil and another Congress MLA, Vijayanand Kashappanavar, who had participated in the protest, had strongly lashed out at Mr. Yatnal and challenged him to resign and contest a byelection. In response, Mr. Yatnal had challenged both Mr. Patil and Mr. Kashappanavar to resign from the Assembly and face him in their respective seats in the bypolls. Mr. Kashappanavar represents Hungund constituency.

“If they do not resign by next Friday (May 9), I would doubt their parentage,” he said in Vijayapura on April 30. “They need not come to Vijayapura city to fight me. Let us all contest as Independents. I will defeat them on their home turf,” he told reporters after Basava Jayanti celebrations in Vijayapura. Mr. Yatnal claimed that, unlike him, Mr. Patil and Mr. Kashappanavar are not mass leaders. He claimed to have won elections based on his charisma, and not party affiliation.

Mr. Patil, who accepted the challenge, met Mr. Khader on Friday and submitted his resignation.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Mr. Patil said, “Mr Yatnal has said that he will resign as an MLA and contest against me in the Basavana Bagevadi constituency. I have resigned accepting his challenge. Let him resign now.”

However, Mr. Patil said he has not set any deadline for Mr. Yatnal to resign. His resignation has nothing to do with the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he clarified. He tendered his resignation on his own, accepting the challenge from Mr. Yatnal, he reiterated.

Mr. Kashappanavar is yet to respond to the challenge.

‘Just drama’

Responding to the resignation, Mr. Yatnal called it just “drama”. He said, “The Minister’s resignation is nothing but a big drama. I will not resign until his resignation is accepted. A conditional resignation will never be accepted. Anyone with a little common sense knows this.”