BENGALURU: A Congressman and former MP from Koppal, K Virupaxappa, who spearheaded a campaign to include the Kuruba community in the Scheduled Tribes category, has jumped ship and joined BJP on Tuesday. He told TNIE that his supporters will join the saffron party in Koppal on March 20 and thousands more will follow suit later.
His exit, per say, may not worry Congress, but his leadership position in the Kuruba struggle for quota may rattle the opposition party a bit. But Congress brushed off these concerns, saying Virupaxappa has returned to his original party.
Virupaxappa, who was earlier with BJP and joined the Congress three years ago, said, “Kuruba leaders, including MTB Nagaraj, Byrathi Basavraj and H Vishwanath, had all left Congress.’’ There were concerns among his followers that Virupaxappa, who is 78 years old, would be part of BJP’s retirement home, ‘Margadarshak Mandal’. But he pointed out that C M Udasi, who is 84 or 85, is a sitting MLA and the CM is 78. Virupaxappa’s supporters expect him to be made chairman of a board or corporation.