The trajectory of political career will come a full circle for C. P. Yogeshwar and Raju Gowda — who quit as Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday — when they go back to the Congress after severing ties with the BJP. Because, these comparatively young politicians, who created a new trend in politics by going up the political rungs mainly by crossing floors on the eve of elections, are rejoining the party from where their political careers took off.
Mr. Yogeshwar, a 49-year-old realtor-cum-actor-turned politician, successfully contested his first Assembly elections in 1999 as an Independent and got re-elected on Congress ticket in 2004. After winning the 2008 elections on Congress ticket, he severed links with that party and joined the BJP through operation kamala ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009.
However, he lost the Lok Sabha election and the Assembly byelection to Channapatna on BJP ticket subsequently. Finally, he won the second byelection to Channapatna Assembly constituency in 2010 on BJP ticket and also became Minister. But as the next elections are fast approaching, he is in the process of changing political loyalties again by getting close to the Congress again.
Similarly, the 34-year-old Rajugouda (Narasimha Nayak) began his political career as a Congress zilla panchayat member in 2000. He quit the Congress and successfully contested the Assembly elections in 2004 on the ticket of the Kannada Nadu Paksha. But in the coalition government, he switched his loyalties to the Janata Dal (Secular).
Later, he joined the BJP just before the 2008 Assembly elections and won on its ticket. Now, he is again in the process of rejoining the Congress on the eve of the next Assembly elections.
After quitting the ministry on Thursday, both of them claimed that they had informed the BJP leaders as well as the Chief Minister about their decision to quit well in advance. But the Chief Minister had told them to wait till the presentation of the budget to make their political moves. Mr. Yogeshwar said there was no future for the BJP in his constituency of Channapatna as people were disillusioned with its functioning style including changing of three Chief Ministers. “I have taken the decision to quit the BJP in the interest of my political future,” said Mr. Yogeshwar who is faced with the prospects of a tough poll battle in Channapatna with the Janata Dal (Secular) deciding to field Anitha Kumaraswamy, wife of its State president H.D. Kumaraswamy, from there.
Interestingly, he had cited similar reasons while quitting the Congress to join the BJP earlier.
