Cites lack of passion after 25 years

New Delhi: In another jolt to the Congress in Karnataka, senior leader and Supreme Court Advocate Brijesh Kalappa has resigned from the primary membership of the party.

Kalappa, who joined the Congress in 1997, said his decision stemmed from the fact that he has been “lacking in passion” in the recent past.

On Tuesday night, Kalappa shared on Facebook his resignation letter, dated May 30, 2022 to Party President Sonia Gandhi:

“At the outset, I wish to offer my heartfelt thanks to you for the several opportunities you provided to me. If I am recognised as a familiar face in all parts of this extraordinarily large nation, it is indeed thanks to your patronage. It is again thanks to your blessings that I was appointed as Legal Advisor to the Government of Karnataka with the rank of Minister.

“I have been representing the party on Hindi, English and Kannada channels since the UPA years in 2013, for almost a decade and have clocked 6,497 debates. Besides, the party has been regularly assigning political work to me which I have performed to the best of my satisfaction.

“Regarding TV debates, I have done my very best at all times and have never ever appeared without adequate preparation for any debate. Even at the worst of times for the party in the aftermath of the 2014 and 2019 debacles, I have never felt enervated and lacking in energy and enthusiasm. But, in the recent past, I have been finding myself lacking in passion, while my own performance has been listless and perfunctory.

“It is under these circumstances that I am left with little option but to resign from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress and to end an association that began in 1997,” Kalappa wrote to Sonia Gandhi.

Kalappa was one of the ticket aspirants from the party for the Madikeri or Virajpet Assembly Constituency in Kodagu district, his native place.

Brijesh Kalappa was, however, denied a ticket during the 2018 Assembly election; it was given to former State Public Prosecutor H.S. Chandramouli.

Kalappa’s decision to end his association with Congress is another setback for the party which is already dealing with mass resignations of its leaders. In the last five months, Congress has lost leaders like Hardik Patel, Kapil Sibal, Sunil Jakhar, Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh and Captain Amarinder Singh.

His resignation comes days after popular Kannada actor and former MLC ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru resigned from Congress after being denied a nomination to the Legislative Council.