Mr Gowda will make his formal entry to the BJP at a huge convention scheduled to be held at Hoskote - the home constituency of Mr Gowda - on January 23.

BJP leaders R Ashok and Katta Subramanya Naidu visited Gowda’s residence in Bangalore on Wednesday and extended a formal invite for him to join the saffron party.

Gowda, a prominent leader in Bangalore Rural belt, is a four-time MLA. He has been transport and urban development minister and also district in-charge minister of Bangalore Rural district. Following the split in the Janata Dal in 1999, Gowda identified himself with the JD(U). He later joined the JD(S).

However, as Gowda himself puts it, he was “sidelined by the JD(S)”. He lost the 2004 assembly elections to the Congress by a slender margin.

Meanwhile, sources in the BJP said Mr Gowda will be given a party ticket to contest from Hoskote. “Presently, we have no base in the constituency. Mr Gowda’s entry will be a great boost for the party in the region,” Ashok said.

Gowda is the third prominent leader from the JD(S) to enter the BJP fold in the run up to the elections, joining ranks with former MP M Srinivas and former minister G T Deve Gowda