Battle for Channapatna: BJP's Yogeshwar joins Cong to fight JD(S)

This comes amid JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy telling party members that BJP President J P Nadda had called him to enquire about the possibility to field Yogeshwar on a JD(S) ticket for the Channapatna bypolls.

Bengaluru: Former minister CP Yogeshwar ditched the BJP and joined the Congress on Wednesday, broiling the poll pot at Channapatna where the JD(S) will now be locked in a straight fight with its arch-rival in the November 13 bypoll.

Yogeshwar joined the grand old party, which he had left in 2008, in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. Before his induction, Yogeshwar met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The actor-turned-politician is likely to file his nomination as the Congress candidate on Thursday.

The last date to file nominations is October 25. Candidates can withdraw from the fray before October 30.

"After seeing political developments over the last few months, it felt like I couldn't live in the house that I helped build," Yogeshwar said. "After the BJP joined hands with the JD(S), the political atmosphere wasn't conducive for my future," he defended his switch.

The five-time MLA, however, refused to criticise BJP leaders. "All BJP leaders tried for me to get the ticket. But due to technical reasons, I couldn't get it,” he said.

Yogeshwar wanted to contest on the BJP's ticket but the JD(S) wanted the ticket for itself as it was a seat held by Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy. In fact, Kumaraswamy offered to let Yogeshwar contest on the JD(S) ticket, but the offer was turned down.

"For the last 30 years, JD(S) has been my political opponent. The JD(S) was my opponent even when I was in the Congress. So, going to the JD(S) went against my conscience,” Yogeshwar said.

It is widely believed that Yogeshwar has enough electoral clout in Channapatna, a seat he has represented five times — first as an independent, twice as a Congressman, once as the BJP candidate and then on the Samajwadi Party’s ticket.

Yogeshwar is expected to give the Congress a boost in the seat where it is considered weak.

Kumaraswamy won Channapatna in last year's assembly polls, bagging 96,592 votes against BJP’s Yogeshwar who got 80,677 votes.

Congress got only 15,000 votes in the polls, Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress president, pointed out. “But we managed to get 85,000 votes in Channapatna during the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha election. Many JD(S) workers also helped us," he said. Yogeshwar has Congress's blood in his veins, Shivakumar added.