240 JD(S) workers join Congress ahead of RR Nagar bypoll

In a major setback to the JD(S),around 240 party leaders and workers from Rajarajeshwarinagar and surrounding areas joined the Congress en masse on Friday ahead of the November 3 bypoll.

Among those inducted into the Congress was the Rajarajeshwari Nagar JD(S) unit president Bettaswamy Gowda. He was a ticket aspirant to contest the upcoming bypoll.

All the JD(S) leaders were inducted by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar and his brother, Bangalore Rural MP DK Suresh.

“We were trying to bring them on board for 15 years. The time has come now,” Shivakumar said. “They are joining the Congress unconditionally because they wanted to identify with a national party.”

The JD(S) has fielded Krishnamurthy V for the November 3 bypoll to Rajarajeshwarinagar. JD(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy had said Krishnamurthy’s candidature was “unanimously” finalized by Bettaswamy Gowda and the party’s Bengaluru unit president R Prakash who were also shortlisted for the ticket.

“In the 2018 election, the JD(S) had bagged 60,000 votes,” Shivakumar said adding that the regional party leaders, joining the Congress, were helpful.

Shivakumar also pointed out that the JD(S) has never won the Rajarajeshwari Nagar segment, which was earlier under the Uttarahalli constituency. “In 1983, when I was a student leader, M Srinivas of the Janata Party won. Then, in 1989, S Ramesh of the Congress won. It was Srinivas again from the BJP and so on. Since 2008, when the Rajarajeshwarinagar segment came into being, the BJP has won once and Congress twice,” Shivakumar said.

The Congress has fielded Kusuma, the daughter of former JD(S) leader Hanumantharayappa, as its candidate.

The BJP’s candidate is disqualified legislator Munirathna who won the constituency twice when he was with the Congress before joining the saffron party.

Kumaraswamy has been fuming against Shivakumar and the Congress for luring Vokkaliga votes and the regional party’s leaders ahead of the bypoll. Vokkaligas are known to form a sizable number of voters in Rajarajeshwarinagar.

“Our party workers trying to gain votes from other parties and vice-versa...this is politics that happens during every election,” Shivakumar told reporters.

On Kumaraswamy’s caste charge, Shivakumar said: “Vokkaliga or another caste, I’ve never got into that. My parents are Vokkaligas and I can’t help that. Even my school application says I’m a Vokkaliga. But, I’m the Congress president and our caste is the Congress. I’ve never liked talking about caste and I won’t go forward.”