Eight former Janata Dal (S) legislators, all die-hard loyalists of former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah, will formally join the Congress here on Sunday.
Originally, these leaders were scheduled to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and join the party at the end of 2007.
However, their meeting was put off because Sonia was hospitalised for a week.
The JD(S) rebels will enter the party’s fold in the presence of Union minister and AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday and subsequently call on the Congress president, according to sources in the state unit of the party.
B.R. Patil, former Chairman of the Legislative Council, said “We will meet Mr Chavan and hold discussions with him for half an hour before completing the formalities (on Sunday evening). Of course, many of our supporters will also join the Congress tomorrow.”
Apart from Patil, the others set to sign up as members of the Congress are H.C. Mahadevappa, Vaijnath Patil, H.Y. Meti (all former ministers), Manchanahalli Mahadev, Somasekhar, Venkatesh and Krishna Murthy.
All of them were elected to the legislative assembly on JD(S) tickets in 2004, but made up their mind to follow in Siddaramaiah’s footsteps soon after his exit in June 2006.
{{/usCountry}}All of them were elected to the legislative assembly on JD(S) tickets in 2004, but made up their mind to follow in Siddaramaiah’s footsteps soon after his exit in June 2006.
{{/usCountry}}The former deputy chief minister joined the Congress at a rally addressed by Sonia Gandhi in the state capital in September 2006.