Minister M T B Nagaraj rues his party-hopping decision

Minister of Municipal Administration M T B Nagaraj on Saturday triggered a speculation by his statement that his decision to desert a political party was a mistake.

“My first mistake in political life was to desert a party to join another,” he said at a function here.

“I am not in politics to earn money. I am transparent. It was my mistake to quit one party to join another. I am realising my folly now. It was MLA S N Subba Reddy who made me quit the party,” he said.

Nagaraj’s statement assumes significance in the wake of rumours that some of the ‘migrant ministers’ in the Basavaraj Bommai Cabinet would soon quit the BJP.

Nagaraj, who the Housing Minister in H D Kumaraswamy led JD(S)-Congress coalition government, had won on a Congress ticket from Hoskote segment in the May 2018 Assembly polls. In July 2019, he resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP a few months later. He fought the bypoll from the BJP, but lost by a margin of 11,486 votes to Independent candidate Sharath Bache Gowda. However, he was elected to the Legislative Council in 2020 and then was inducted into the Cabinet.

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