Bengaluru: The Congress has decided to seek the disqualification of four disgruntled legislators, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddharamaiah announced in Bengaluru this morning.

The party will move a petition for disqualification of Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Mahesh Kumthalli (Athani), Umesh Jadhav (Chincholi) and B. Nagendra (Bellary)  as they are said to have been in touch with the BJP.

The trigger for the drastic decision of seeking their disqualification was their absence in the special CLP meet that was convened this morning.

The four MLAs came under the party’s scanner when they skipped the CLP meet held on Jan. 18. Show cause notices were issued seeking their explanation.

They responded saying they were loyal to the Congress and would not leave the party. “I wrote back, asking them to personally meet me and justify their stand. They did not come,” Siddharamaiah said.

“Then, the four have violated the whip by not attending the ongoing Assembly session. I mentioned all these things in the CLP meet and the unanimous opinion was that I should proceed further to take legal action under anti-detection law.

“All the four have sent me letters today. Jadhav has said he is preoccupied, Ramesh said he has a marriage to attend, Mahesh has said he is unwell and Nagendra has said he has personal work.

They have said they cannot attend the ongoing Budget Session of legislature till its                                                                       conclusion on Feb. 15,” Siddharamaiah said.

Sufficient opportunity was given to these MLAs. Therefore, I have decided to approach the Speaker with a petition requesting him to take action under the anti-defection law of Schedule 10 of the Constitution,” Siddharamaiah said.