Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi has joined the Congress. (Image: ANI)
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he was saddened by Savadi’s decision to part ways with the BJP and join the Congress.
Former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, who announced his decision to resign from the primary membership of the BJP after being denied ticket in the May 10 assembly elections, joined the Congress on Friday.
Congress leaders said he would now be the oldest party candidate in Athani in Belagavi district.
Savadi, a Lingayat leader from Belagavi district, on Friday resigned from the Legislative Council and the BJP before moving to the Congress office, his new political home.
Savadi said at a press conference after joining the party, “From today onwards, I have no connection with the BJP. I will be a devoted and loyal worker of the Congress, as I was in the BJP for 20 to 25 years.” “
He was accompanied by Congress state president DK Shivakumar, Congress national general secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala and election campaign committee Congress and MLA MB Patil.
Savadi said he had helped BJP candidates Shrimant Patil in Kagwad and Mahesh Kumathalli in Athani win the 2019 bypolls following the disqualification of 17 MLAs that led to the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
He said, ‘I was also instrumental in the BJP’s victory in 13 assembly constituencies, due to which I was made the Deputy Chief Minister. The BJP had promised that I would contest the 2023 assembly elections, but they backtracked.
Savadi said that the BJP leadership had promised tickets to all 17 people who helped the BJP form the government in 2019, but R Shankar was left out.
He said that the BJP was using different parameters, which forced him to leave the party with which he was associated for more than two decades.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he was saddened by Savadi’s decision to part ways with the BJP and join the Congress.
“…I feel very sad, we shared a close bond. “Sometimes such political situations arise,” Bommai said. Savadi’s decision came after a meeting with Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Surjewala.
Ignoring Savadi’s request, the BJP earlier this week gave the Athani seat in Belagavi district to sitting MLA Kumathalli.
Savadi is a three-time MLA from Athani, but lost the 2018 election to Kumathalli, who was then in the Congress.
Kumathalli was among a group of defectors who helped the BJP topple the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by BS Yediyurappa in 2019 and form its own government.
He later joined the BJP and successfully contested the Athani bypoll on the party’s ticket.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)