Disgruntled Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav joins BJP

Kalaburagi, May 06: Putting an end to all speculations, Umesh Jadhav, the Congress MLA from Chincholi formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at a rally in Kalaburagi on Wednesday. He is tipped to take on Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge in the coming Lok Saba elections.

Jadhav joined the BJP before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the rally, in the presence of state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and a host of other party leaders.

"I am happy and proud of joining the BJP at the historical Nutan Vidyalaya grounds in Kalaburagi," Jadhav said before Modi arrived on the stage. Jadhav recalled how he had listened to former Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech in the same venue.

Jadhav had on Monday submitted his resignation from the Assembly to Speaker Ramesh Kumar.

The four MLAs had kept the party on tenterhooks for several weeks, defying its whip twice to attend the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meetings on January 18 and February 8 and had skipped the early part of the budget session.

Jadhav was upset with Congress against the alleged dominance by veteran party leader Kharge and his son Minister Priyank Kharge in the region.

Jadhav is likely to face some hurdles ahead of his candidature for the Lok Sabha polls, as a petition to disqualify him was still pending before the Speaker.