Jagadish Shettar joins Congress after quitting BJP ahead of the Karnataka polls

Shettar on Sunday had resigned as the Hubli-Dharwad (Central) MLA after the BJP denied him the ticket to contest the Assembly polls

Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar officially joined the Congress party on Monday, a day after severing ties with the BJP, a party he was associated with for three decades.

AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge who inducted Shettar into the party said the senior leader joining the party would definitely boost the prospects of Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections. "We will get 150 seats for sure. Shettar will definitely get re-elected," he said, expressing optimism.

Speaking on the occasion, Shettar reiterated that he was pained for the last six months on various developments within the BJP. He claimed was blindsided and the party's national leaders who denied him the ticket and sprung it upon him at the last moment. Shettar further said he was shoved out of the house he built [the BJP] and a few individuals were taking control of the party in Karnataka.

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"I did not make any special attempts to bargain for the ticket as I assumed that the party would naturally give me the ticket, considering my work and seniority. I have built the party's base, especially in North Karnataka. I have been the party's state president, twice the Leader of the Opposition and have been a former Chief Minister. I have won for six consecutive times from Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency with a margin of at least 25,000 votes," he lamented, when asked about being sidelined by the BJP.

Meanwhile, KPCC President D K Shivakumar claimed that hundreds of supporters of Shettar had reached out to the Congress, and urged them all to join the grand old party. "Jagadish Shettar joining Congress signals a change of wave not just in Karnataka but in national politics," Shivakumar stated.

Although Shettar hails from an RSS background, he has always been secular at heart, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said, assuring him on the dais that the Congress party would treat him with the respect he deserves as a senior politician in the state.