Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti President Vaijnath Patil will join Congress in the presence of KPCC President G Parameshwara in Bidar on Thursday.
Patil himself confirmed this to Express on Wednesday. Patil has represented Chincholi constituency twice in the Legislative Assembly and also served as a Minister in H D Deve Gowda’s Cabinet. He had contested against N Dharam Singh of Congress in 1980 Lok Sabha election as a Janata Party candidate and was defeated by over 1 lakh votes.
Patil is now likely to campaign for Dharam Singh in Bidar and Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge in Gularga constituency soon.
Upon asking why he is joining Congress, Patil said, “Real politicians should always think of welfare of his people. No one can question about the efforts of Congress as a whole and Kharge and Dharam Singh in particular in realising the dream of people of the region and of Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti in amending Article 371 for Hyderbad Karnataka Region. When they have responded to the demand of the people, we should reciprocate it by supporting them.”
“I am thinking of resigning as the President of Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti as I am now 75 years old. Let the people in it continue the Samiti as it is an apolitical forum,” he said.
He said BJP deceived the people of the region as it did not put any efforts to provide special status to the region when it was in power in the State.