Hubballi, 21 Oct

BJP leader CP Yogeeshwara on Monday resigned as the Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council, to contest the 13 November Assembly bypoll from Channapatna segment.

With the BJP ceding Channapatana seat to alliance partner JD(S), the actor-turned-politician said he plans to contest as an independent, and would take a final call, after consulting his supporters and workers, even as he appealed to coalition leaders to consider giving him a ticket from the saffron party.

Channapatna will go for bypolls along with Sandur and Shiggaon Assembly segments --where BJP has already announced candidates.

Channapatna bypoll is necessitated as the seat fell vacant following the election of its representative -- JD(S) state president and now Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy -- to Lok Sabha from Mandya parliamentary segment.

Speaking to reporters here, after tendering his resignation, he said he plans to contest as an independent candidate, as he had contested and won in the past, and will take a final call based on what his supporters and workers say.

BJP has said that Channapatna candidate would be announced by Kumaraswamy, as the seat was represented by him, which dashed the hopes of Yogeeshwara, who had openly claimed that he will be the alliance candidate.

Meanwhile, R Ashoka, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, on Monday, dismissed the reports of a tussle between the BJP and the JD(S) over the Channapatna Assembly seat for the coming by-election.

"There is no tussle or anything over the Channapatna Assembly seat. I discussed this with Kumaraswamy for 2 hours. He is a good friend; there is no problem," Ashoka told ANI.