Bangalore : The opposition Congress suffered a jolt when former Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa quit the party and joined the Janata Dal (Secular) here today.
A senior Congress leader, Mr Bangarappa joined JD(S) in the presence of former Prime Minister and the party’s national president H D Deve Gowda and state unit president and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy here.
Mr Bangarappa, who began his political career as a Socialist Party worker, hed joined the Congress and had switched parties several times. He had even unsuccessfully floated a regional party Karnataka Kranti Ranga before rejoining the Congress.
Mr Bangarappa has been nursing a grouse against the Congress that he was being neglected by the party and was not being consulted while making changes in the office-bearers at block level in his home town Sorab.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bangarappa announced that he had tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress and the letter had been sent to party president Sonia Gandhi.
He said he wss joining the JD(S) not only to fight the Zilla Parishad and Taluka Panchayat elections but also to defeat the “communal” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections whenever they are held.
He called upon all his followers to strengthen the hands of the JD(S), which he said was the real opposition party in the State. He said he had joined the party without any pre-conditions, to give credence in the fight against communal forces.
“We have not come to build another national party, but to prove that a regional party also has its own role to play in the development of the state and the country,” Mr Bangarappa added.
Earlier, welcoming Mr Bangarappa into the party, Mr Deve Gowda described him as a born fighter and true representative of the poor, downtrodden and all sections of society.
He said even though Mr Bangarappa joined the party formally, he would be inducted in a grand manner at a mammoth meeting to be held in Shimoga, his home district very soon.
Along with Mr Bangarappa, another senior backward classes leader and former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee member Mukudappa also joined the JD(S). Mr Mukudappa’s induction into the party was significant as he was the right hand man of former Deputy Chief Minister and Opposition Congress leader in the Karantaka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah.
Mr Deve Gowda also announced that a BJP leader and former Minister C Chanigappa and his son B C Gowrishankar, who was also a former legislator, had also returned to the party.