BENGALURU: Seven JD(S) rebel candidates will be joining the Congress party in December or early January. Announcing this after the rebels met AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi late on Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the JD(S) MLAs would strengthen Congress as each of them were strong in their constituencies. He added that the rebel MLAs had cross voted on their own volition and the Congress had not convinced them to do so. The chief minister also said that some BJP members also wanted to join Congress but they had not yet responded to them.
Siddaramaiah went to Delhi along with Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday evening. He introduced the seven JD(S) MLAs - Zameer Ahmed Khan, Cheluvarayaswamy, H C Balakrishna, Akhanda Srinivasmurthy, Bandisiddegowda, Iqbal Ansari and Bheema Naik to Rahul Gandhi. The seven are scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
The seven MLAs were suspended by JD(S) after they cross voted during elections to four Rajya Sabha seats last year. While another JD(S) MLA K Gopalaiah had also cross voted, he was re-inducted into the party after he apologised.