Ex-Karnataka Deputy CM Joins Congress After Quitting BJP Ahead Of Polls

Laxman Savadi, the former Karnataka deputy chief minister who quit BJP after he was denied a ticket for the Karnataka Assembly Election, joined Congress on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Former Karnataka deputy chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who quit BJP after being denied ticket to contest in the upcoming state Assembly elections, on Friday joined the Congress. Savadi’s decision came after a meeting with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary and party in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Shivakumar said Savadi, a BJP MLC, would meet the Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti (to tender his resignation from the Upper House) this afternoon, after which he would formally join the Congress.

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah said Savadi will be given ticket from the Athani constituency to contest in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Election.

“The only condition Savadi has put forward is that he should be treated properly. Savadi will be given a ticket from the Athani constituency. I hope he will win,” Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Saddened by Savadi’s decision, says Karnataka CM Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he was “saddened” by Savadi’s decision to part ways with the BJP and join the Congress. “…I’m feeling very sad, we shared a close bond. Sometimes such political situations arise,” Bommai said. “He might have found his political future in the Congress. We will do our job in our party.”

Savadi said he had been loyal to the BJP and helped the party candidates win in other parts of the state as well but it did not live up to its promise of fielding him in the 2023 Assembly election from Athani.

On his decision to join the Congress, Savadi, a three-time MLA from Athani in Belagavi district, said he had only demanded a ticket to contest the elections, besides the completion of some irrigation projects in his constituency which have been pending for many years — in the event of the Congress coming to power.

Ignoring Savadi’s request, the BJP had earlier this week given the Athani ticket to sitting MLA Mahesh Kumathalli. Savadi lost in the 2018 elections to Kumathalli, who was then in the Congress.