Senior Congress leader and Legislative Council member CM Ibrahim has left the party.

Senior Congress leader and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) CM Ibrahim on Saturday said that he has resigned from the primary membership of the party and is keen to join the Janata Dal(S).

The senior politician, however, said he would announce his decision to join the regional party in a couple of days after discussions with the JD(S) leadership, including former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

Reacting to the possibility of Ibrahim joining the JD(S), Deve Gowda said the party will discuss and take a decision.

Ibrahim told reporters here, "I am resigning from the primary membership of the Congress.

I have sent a signed letter to Sonia Gandhi (National President of Congress)."

He said that he is also resigning as MLC.

He said, "I have sent a letter addressed to the Speaker of the Legislative Council to Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Siddaramaiah, he can present it and get it accepted.

I have done this because if my resignation is accepted, BJP will get majority in the council and after that the anti-conversion bill (which is pending in the council) can be passed easily.

I leave it to them."

Thanking national and state Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, he said, "I am a free person now and I have the freedom to take any decision."

Ibrahim, a former Union minister and one-time aide of Deve Gowda, had joined the Congress in 2008 and had been at odds with the party and Siddaramaiah for some time now.

His decision to quit the Congress comes after the party appointed BK Hariprasad as the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, the post he was eyeing.

He has also accused the Congress of neglecting the leaders of the minority community and using the community only as a vote bank.

Mentioning that he has resigned from the Congress out of "self-respect", Ibrahim said he would meet JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda and former state chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in a few days and announce his decision.

"Though I was under pressure from other friends (from different parties), I wish to be JD(S) because Deve Gowda knows me and I know him.

Instead of taking an unknown path, it is better to take a known path... I will discuss with them and make an announcement."

He said the JD(S) has every chance of coming to power in the state in the 2023 assembly elections.

Ibrahim had left the JD(S) after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.