Ex-MP returns to Congress from BJP in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Quitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Tumakuru Lok Sabha member Muddahanume Gowda on Thursday returned to the Congress party from where he was elected twice to the Assembly and once to the Parliament. Muddahanume Gowda had represented the Kunigal Assembly seat in Tumakuru and once represented the Tumakuru parliamentary seat.

Muddahanume Gowda joined the BJP in 2022 and was an aspirant to contest the Kunigal Assembly seat but was denied a ticket by the BJP. Muddahanume Gowda was welcomed into the party by the president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah among others.

After joining the Congress party, Muddahanume Gowda stated that switching sides has become an accepted phenomenon in today’s political scenario and admitted that he quit the Congress party with the intention to contest the election but not out of greed for power.

Gowda was miffed at Congress leaders after the Tumakuru parliamentary seat was sacrificed to Janata Dal-Secular in the 2019 parliamentary election. Then, the JDS and Congress alliance were running the State Government, and national president of JDS and former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda emerged as a consensus candidate for the Tumakuru seat.

In 2019, Devegowda vacated Hassan Lok Sabha seat to make way for his grandson Prajwal to take the plunge into politics, and Prajwal was fielded as a consensus nominee. Prajwal won the seat while in Tumakuru parliamentary seat, Gowda was defeated in the election by BJP nominee G.S. Basavaraju. Prior to his contest from Tumakuru, Devegowda had won seven times from Hassan Lok Sabha seat.

Now, JDS has severed its ties with the Congress party and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Currently, JDS and BJP are engaged in seat sharing to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka.