Breaking his four-decade-old association with the BJP, estranged Karnataka strongman B.S. Yedddyurappa today resigned from its primary membership, but said he would not rock the Jagadish Shettar government.
Bidding an emotional adieu to the party he had helped bring to power as the first BJP government in the South, Yeddyruppa said he had sent in his resignation to party President Nitin Gadkari.
After announcing his exit to supporters at a meeting at Freedom Park here, Yeddyurappa went in a procession to Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat and submitted his resignation from the assembly membership to Speaker K G Bopaiah.
"It is an unforgettable and painful day for me," said the 70-year-old Lingayat leader, adding he was leaving the party with which he was associated for the past 40 years out of inevitability and in the interests of the people.
Yeddyurappa, who rebuffed Central leaders' last ditch attempts to retain him in the BJP, said, "Some people" in the party “betrayed” him and “stabbed” him in the back and tried to weaken him.
The exit of Yeddyurappa is unlikely to make an immediate impact on the stability of the Shettar government as he himself said he does not want to rock the boat and wants it to complete its full term.
Yeddyurappa has announced he would formally launch the "Karnataka Janata Party" on December 9 at Haveri.