Karnataka MLA to quit Congress, join BJP

BENGALURU: Former minister and backward classes’ leader, and serial party-hopper, Malikayya Guttedar on Thursday delivered a body blow to the Congress on Thursday when he announced his decision to part ways with the party and join BJP on grounds that a senior legislator like himself was not accommodated in the cabinet by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Without mentioning his long running feud with senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge,  Mr Guttedar, who has represented Afzalpur constituency in Kalaburgi district for six terms irrespective of his party affiliation, said after a meeting with state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa that he would also quit the membership of the Assembly, without any riders.

Within hours of his meeting with the BJP leader, however Guttedar was unceremoniously expelled for six years from the Congress.

He said he spoke to Mr Siddaramaiah about his decision to quit the Congress but could not submit his resignation to Speaker K.B. Koliwad as the latter was away. He would join the BJP during party president Amit Shah’s tour of Mysuru on March 30 and 31, he added.

A party-hopper, Mr Guttedar had quit the Congress earlier to join Karnataka Congress Party (KCP), an outfit launched by the late Chief Minister S Bangarappa in 1994, but returned to the Congress in 2013 after a stint as a JD (S).  legislator. He, however, had run-ins with veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his minister-son Priyank Kharge during his latest tenure in Congress. Their differences reached a point of no return when Mr Priyank Kharge was inducted into the ministry by Mr Siddaramaiah, overlooking the seniority of Mr Guttedar.