BENGALURU: Senior BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday joined the Congress ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in the state.
He joined the party in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala (Karnataka in-charge), KPCC president DK Shivakumar and Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, among others.
Shettar on Sunday had resigned as the Hubli-Dharwad (Central) MLA after the BJP denied him the ticket to contest the Assembly polls.
The 67-year-old six-time MLA, Shettar was asked by the BJP top brass to make way for others, but he on his part had asserted he wanted to contest one last time.
After joining the Congress, Shettar alleged that he had been humiliated by the BJP by denying him the ticket and that the party is today in the control of “very few people”. “I was forcibly thrown out of the party that I built…I’m joining the Congress by accepting its ideology and principles,” he told reporters.