BENGALURU: The rebellion in the Ramanagara unit of Congress over the pact with JD(S) for the November 3 bypoll came to fore on Sunday with Chandrashekar Lingappa, son of Congress MLC C M Lingappa, deciding to join the BJP.
Congress’ decision to give up the constituency to JD(S) as part of the coalition agreement has not gone down well with the local party leaders.
The JD(S) is likely to field Anita Kumaraswamy in the bypoll, which has been necessitated following the resignation of H D Kumaraswamy. He was elected from two seats — Ramanagara and Channapatna.
Many Congress leaders, including former MLA C M Lingappa, who had defeated former minister M H Ambareesh in the bypoll in 1996, are sulking. Ambareesh, who was in the JD(S) then, was fielded in the bypoll after H D Deve Gowda vacated the seat when he became Prime Minister.
At a meeting with a group of Congress party workers, Chandrashekar Lingappa announced his decision to join BJP. He said the Congress’ decision not to field a candidate would prove disastrous. In his fight against Kumaraswamy in Ramangara, Congress candidate Iqbal Hussein had polled over 70,000 votes in the assembly elections.
BJP, which is trying to exploit the revolt within Congress over the alliance with JD(S), expects to put up a strong fight by luring disgruntled local Congress leaders.