BSP leader joins Congress in Karnataka

The Congress party has managed to rope in a prominent Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls scheduled to be held in the state next month.

Former President of BSP’s Karnataka unit B Gopal joined the Congress in the presence of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Prithviraj Chauhan in Bangalore on Sunday.

Gopal, who had built a base for the BSP in Karnataka since 1984, was removed from the party by BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati earlier this year. “I wished to remain in politics and the Congress with its commitment to Dalits and other weaker sections was the best party to join”, Gopal said.

Welcoming Gopal and his supporters into the party fold, Chauhan told reporters that the Congress party will be further strengthened by the entry of the BSP leaders. Gopal’s decision to join the Congress is expected to hit the BSP’s prospects hard in Karnataka as the Mayawati-led party was planning to contest all the 224 seats in the election-bound state.

Gopal’s entry into the Congress assumes significance in view of the Congress party’s rout in the 2004 assembly polls when BSP cut into its votes.

Former Federal Minister T K Taradevi, a four-time MP, who had quit the JD (S) and former MP S B Sidnal were also welcomed into the party fold by the Congress leaders at the same function.

Speaking to reporters, Chauhan said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had also cleared the entry of former Federal Minister C M Ibrahim into the party. “He will be joining the Congress in the next few days”, Chauhan said.

Ibrahim, who was once a close aide of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, has fallen out with the JD (S) supremo after former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was removed from the party.

Chauhan described the entry of new leaders into the party as “realignment and consolidation of secular forces”.