BENGALURU : In a boost to BJP candidate Munirathna Naidu from the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly constituency, a host of leaders from the Congress and JDS joined the saf fron party on Sunday.
Among the 34 leaders is a former mayor, former corporators, members of local administrative bodies, cooperatives societies etc.
The mix of leaders from various communities with considerable influence in their respective wards or localities comes as a major fillip to the BJP ahead of the November 3 bypolls. Interestingly, former corporator from JDS Manjula Narayanaswamy and former corporator from Congress Asha Suresh — two of the three women corporators who staged a protest against Munirathna inside the BBMP Council in 2017 — also joined the BJP on Sunday in Munirathna’s presence.
The two women ex-corporators, along with former BJP corporator Mamata Vasudev, had threatened to commit suicide because of harassment by then Congress MLA Munirathna and his supporters.
The 34 leaders included former mayor Narayanaswamy, former corporators Srinivasmurthy, G K Venkatesh, Velu Naik, Siddagowda, Mohan Kumar, Venkat e s h Babu , Govindaraju apart from local Congress and JDS leaders.
They were welcomed by state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, national general secretary C T Ravi, state vice-president and in-charge for RR Nagar bypolls Arvind Limbavali and Revenue Minister R Ashok.