BJP candidate in Karnataka quits party, rejoins Cong

bengaluru — Two days ahead of polling, L. Chandrashekar, the BJP candidate in the by-election to the Karnataka Assembly from Ramanagara on November 3, on Thursday announced that he had quit the party to return to the Congress.

Chandrashekar, 49, who was earlier a Congress leader, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on October 10 to contest the Ramanagara by-poll on the party ticket.

“BJP leaders had promised their support to me when I decided to contest on the party ticket from Ramanagara. However, none of them (BJP leaders) even came forward to campaign for me. So, I decided to quit the party and return to Congress,” he told reporters here.

Chandrashekar was contesting against Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy of the Janata DalSecular (JD-S) from the Ramanagara seat, which is a strong hold of the JD-S.

As Chandrashekar’s decision comes two days ahead of the bypoll and post the last date of withdrawal of candidatures, an Election Commission official said his name will continue to remain on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). —