Baburao Chinchansur joins BJP

The induction of senior Congress leader and former minister Baburao Chinchansur into the BJP is a carefully crafted strategy by the party to make electoral inroads into the Hyderabad-Karnataka region in general, and Kalaburagi district, in particular.

Chinchansur, a five-term MLA who lost the recent Assembly polls from Gurmitkal, belongs to the Koli community. Ahead of the Assembly polls, the BJP inducted six-term MLA Mallikayya Guttedar and a former minister, also from the Congress, into the party.

Chinchansur, a close aide of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, officially joined the BJP in the presence of party president B S Yeddyurappa and Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (a leader of Koli community) on Wednesday.

While the Congress has several leaders from the politically significant Kalaburagi district, the BJP has none to speak of. The BJP is trying to strengthen its base in the district by inducting local leaders.

By bringing Chinchansur into the party fold, the BJP is attempting to wrest the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency, which covers as many as eight Assembly segments, by defeating sitting MP and senior Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge.

Speaking after his induction into the BJP, Chinchansur accused the Congress of neglecting the Koli community. He said unable to digest his popularity, the Congress leaders had conspired to defeat him in Gurmitkal constituency in the recent Assembly polls.

Yeddyurappa said the party has set itself the task of defeating Kharge in the Lok Sabha polls at any cost.