Karnataka: A Manju quits Congress, joins BJP

Hassan: Congress leader and former minister A. Manju on Sunday evening rejoined the BJP at its Hassan party office and was welcomed by the BJP's Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda who offered him a shawl while a miffed district BJP president Yoga Ramesh skipped the function.

It may be recalled that Yoga Ramesh had criticized Manju saying that he was a party hopper and did not help the district to develop when he was in the Congress too. But, BJP sources asserted that Manju's formal entry into the BJP was fixed in a hurry and claimed that Yoga Ramesh had no differences over Manju rejoining the party. The sources also said that Yoga Ramesh was in Bengaluru and  could not attend the function at the party office. But Yoga Ramesh did not respond to repeated phone calls to him.

Manju was earlier elected as MLA on a BJP ticket in 1999 from Arakalgudu assembly segment in Hassan and joined the Congress in 2004. He lost the 2004 election and was re-elected on a Congress ticket in 2008 and 2013. He lost the 2018 election to the JD(S) candidate.

Yoga Ramesh and Manju had fought the Arakalgudu election in 2013 and 2018 and Yoga was defeated in both elections. In 2013 Yoga contested Arakalgudu seat as an Independent and in 2018 as a BJP candidate.