12 February,2009 05:27 PM IST | | PTI
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP and former Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa on Thursday resigned from Lok Sabha as well as the party and announced his plans to join the Congress.
"I have resigned from my Lok Sabha seat Shimoga as well as from the Samajwadi Party. I submitted my resignation to the Speaker and he has accepted it," Bangarappa told reporters outside Parliament house.
The former Congress leader said he has sought an appointment with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. He said that he decided to quit SP and join the Congress as he felt that BJP's winning Assembly election in Karnataka was "not a good sign and it's high time all secular parties unite to defeat the communal forces."
To a question whether he resigned from SP due to the recent bonhomie between that party and former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Bangarappa said, "This is not the reason".
He declined to comment on whether his resignation from the SP will affect the alliance talks between Congress and Mulayam Singh Yadav-led party.
"Such things happen. They will be sorted out," he said.
Bangarappa maintained that even though he had quit the SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP General Secretary Amar Singh were his 'good friends'.
