Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni claims 13-14 former MLAs in touch with party

VIJAYAPURA: 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. At least 13-14 ex-MLAs are keen to join us. We will welcome them if they wish to join”, Kulkarni told reporters here.

BJP leaders K Gopalaiah, Munirathna Naidu, 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 former BJP minister Shankar Patil Munenakoppa joining the Congress, Kulkarni said, “We are not against Munenakoppa, he has experience in politics. Those who give strength to the party will be added”.

In 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 coalition government and led to the installation of the BJP government in the state.

On the alleged friction between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Kulkarni said no one can dislodge Siddaramaiah from the post.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, BJP MLA S T Somashekar praised Deputy Chief Miniser D K Shivakumar, calling the latter his guru, 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’ D K Shivakumar who helped me. I wasn’t given a JP Nagar block, D K 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”, Somashekar, a former Congress leader and currently serving as BJP MLA, had said on Thursday.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had on Friday assured that no one will leave the party and all the 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. (ANI)