Bengaluru:Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi will join Congress later in the evening following his decision to resign from the primary membership of the BJP after the saffron party denied him ticket to contest in the ensuing Karnataka Assembly elections due on May 10, leaders from the grand old party said.
His decision came after a meeting with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary and party in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala. "He has agreed to become a member of our (Congress) family on his own volition," Shivakumar who emerged from the meeting informed the media.
Shivakumar who was flanked by Savadi and Siddaramaiah said the BJP MLA would meet the Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti and would tender his resignation from the Upper House later this afternoon. After this, Savadi would formally join the Congress, Shivakumar said.
Ignoring Savadi's request for a ticket, the BJP had earlier this week given the Athani seat in Belagavi district to sitting MLA Mahesh Kumathalli. Savadi is a three-time MLA from Athani but lost in the 2018 elections to Kumathalli who back then was with the Congress. Kumathalli was among the key group of defectors who helped the saffron party to bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition and form its government under the leadership of B S Yediyurappa in 2019.
Yediyurappa who became the CM on July 26, 2019 was forced to resign from the top post of the government. After BSY resigned as the head of the government, the party installed Basavaraj Bommai took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on July 28, 2021. The Election Commission has notified the elections to the 16th Legislative Assembly of Karnatka where voting will take place on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13. BJP has so far announced candidates 189 seats in the first list and 23 more in the second list.
