“13-14 former MLAs in touch with us”: says Karnataka Congress leader Kulkarni

Congress legislator Vinaya Kulkarni has claimed that at least 13-14 former MLAs are keen to join the Congress. “Many people are very keen to join Congress. 13-14 ex-MLAs are keen to join us. We will welcome them if they wish to join,” MLA Kulkarni told reporters here.

K Gopalaiah, Munirathna, S T Somashekhar, Arbail Shivaram Hebbar and Byrati Basavaraj are some of the prominent names who are said to be in touch with the Congress party. On Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, former BJP minister joining the Congress, Kulkarni said that “We are not against Munenakoppa, he has experience in politics. Those who give strength to the party will be added to the party.”

In the year 2019, 14 MLAs from the Congress and three MLAs from the JD(S) had quit their parties, which led to the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress government and led to the installation of the BJP government in the State. Meanwhile, earlier this week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA ST Somashekar Gowda praised Karnataka deputy chief miniser DK Shivakumar and said his growth in the cooperative sector is because of the Congress leader.

“If I’ve grown in the cooperative sector, it’s because of my ‘guru’ DK Shivakumar who helped me. I wasn’t given a JP Nagar block, DK Shivakumar made me joint secretary of JP Nagar. From there he gave me his support. He also made me the candidate for the Uttarahalli Assembly constituency,” Gowda, a former Congress leader and currently serving as BJP MLA had said on Thursday. Also former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had on Friday assured that no one will leave the party and all the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs are “intact” with the party.

“No one will leave the party, all are intact with us. There are one or two people. We have spoken to them also. I believe no one will leave the party,” Yediyurappa said. PTI