Chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) and former BJP MLC Mukhyamantri Chandru and Kannada film actor Bhavya joined the Congress on Saturday.
Actor and film producer Madan Patel, MLC Raghu Achar, the former legislator D.M. Sali, Haveri district Janata Dal (Secular) unit president Gaji Gowda and several other leaders from Haveri also joined the Congress in the presence of KPCC president G. Parameshwara and several Ministers.
Dr. Parameshwara said leaders of other parties joining the Congress had further strengthened the party. “The Congress is the only party that will ensure social justice. For us it is not just development that is important but also equality, and these principles are attracting leaders of other parties to the Congress,” he said.
Mr. Chandru, who was in the BJP for the last three decades, said he quit the party for personal reasons.
Mr. Chandru was appointed KDA chairman by the BJP government headed by the then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. Although he resigned from the BJP in October, the Congress had not objected to him continuing as the KDA chief. His term ends in two months.
Ms. Bhavya, who was one of the leading actors in the 1980s and early 1990s, is likely to take over as the head of the party’s cultural wing.
