40 BJP, JD(S) leaders willing to join Congress, says Karnataka Deputy CM Shivakumar

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday claimed that more than 40 BJP and JD(S) leaders opposed to the recently struck alliance between the two parties are willing to join the Congress.

Shivakumar spoke to reporters after former BJP MLA Ramappa Lamani, who was denied a ticket by the saffron party to contest the May assembly elections from Shirahatti segment, joined the grand old party.

Lamani said he was joining the Congress without any condition.

The former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) last month decided to ally with the BJP following a meeting of its leader H D Kumaraswamy with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda in New Delhi.

'Applications from more than 40 leaders are before me. I never wanted to disclose this information but now the situation has come,' Shivakumar, who is also Congress state president, said without disclosing their names. 'After discussing with the local leaders, we are inducting them one by one'.

According to him, these BJP and JD(S) leaders are from Bidar in the north of the state to Chamarajanagar in the south.

'Opposing the alliance (between BJP and JD-S), many leaders have shown interest in joining our party. It will be beneficial for our leadership as well as the country if these leaders are inducted,' Shivakumar added.

He also claimed that more than 100 people from the Aam Aadmi Party who had contested the May assembly election have also shown interest in joining Congress.