Two days after joining the BJP, Sampangiramnagar councillor R Vasanthkumar returned to the Congress on Thursday.
The councillor was welcomed into the BJP at Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s residence on Tuesday.
“Some BJP leaders took me with them on the pretext of drinking tea. Suddenly, they took me to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and announced that I had joined the BJP,” Vasanthkumar
told a news conference, flanked by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
(KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
“I didn’t know what to do at that point. I felt bad that I had been cheated this way. That’s why I returned to my party,” he said.
Vasanthkumar’s entry into the BJP was seen as a setback to the Congress ahead of the bypolls in the Shivajinagar constituency. The Congress has already expelled two of its councillors from the segment - M K Gunashekhar and Netravati Krishnegowda - for ‘anti-party’ activity.
“Vasanthkumar was forcibly taken by BJP leaders,” Rao charged. “It is sad that Yediyurappa, S R Vishwanath (CM’s political secretary) and their rowdies continue their unprincipled politics,” he added.