Bengaluru, Jan 18 (DHNS): Two JD(S) legislators, Manappa Vajjal from Lingasagur, and Dr S Shivaraj Patil from Raichur City, on Thursday resigned as MLAs, ahead of the assembly election.

They submitted their resignation letters to Legislative Assembly Secretary (in charge) S Murthy, as Speaker K B Koliwad was not present in his office. Both are set to join the BJP.

They told the media that the JD(S) leadership had sidelined them for the last one year.

"We were not taken into confidence on many occasions. The party refused to address our grouses. Hence we were forced to exit the party and join the BJP," they said.

Murthy said that he would forward the resignation letters to the Speaker.

"The letters have been addressed to the Speaker, but they have submitted the same to me. As per the rules, they are supposed to submit the letters to the Speaker directly. I have explained the rules to them, but they insisted that I should accept them. They said that they had met the Speaker last night, and that he had asked them to submit the letters to me," said Murthy.