JD(S) candidate in Belgaum joins Cong

In yet another jolt to the JD(S), Nasir Bagwan, its candidate for the Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency, joined the Congress on Tuesday. He has reportedly retired from the contest.

Bagwan, an industrialist from Khanapur, joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at an election rally at Kittur.

Siddaramaiah welcomed Bagwan into the Congress, by handing over the party flag to him. Shivanand Naik, who had filed his nomination papers as a JD(S) candidate from the Uttara Kannada parliamentary constituency, had later withdrawn his papers.

Reacting to the development in Bangalore, JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda said that all these actions were part of a conspiracy to finish the party. 

“Previously there was Operation Kamala. Now, it is this operation,” Gowda said. Gowda, however, said that the party was not taking Belgaum seriously. 

He said that they were concentrating on Chikodi, Bidar, Bijapur, Davangere, Chitradurga, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur, Hassan, Mysore, Mandya and Bangalore Rural constituencies.