Former Karnataka minister and JDS leader Iqbal Ansari joined the Congress today.
Welcoming him into the party fold, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Commitee President R V Deshpande said Ansari, who hails from Koppal district, had “earned a good name as a minister and worked for the welfare of the minorities and the youth in his district.”
He expressed confidence that Ansari would work towards strengthening the party in north Karnataka.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary and Karnataka Incharge Gulam Nabi Azad among others had ’unanimously’ decided that Ansari should be inducted into the party, he said.
Admitting that “some indiscipline had crept into the party”, Deshpande said all efforts would be made to ensure discipline and asked the Congressmen to work in unison to strengthen the party.
KPCC Working President D K Shivakumar said “there is no difference between the old and the new members” and exhorted the workers to work together to strengthen the party at the grassroot level.
Ansari said he joined Congress of his own volition as he felt “it was better to join a party that needed him rather than be in a party where he was not required“.
He said “I served the JDS to the best of my ability and even JDS chief H D Deve Gowda and state unit President H D Kumaraswamy recognised my work. But a recent statement made by Gowda that if I left the party it would not make any difference, made me feel that I was no longer needed and therefore decided to join Congress where my presence is required“.
Along with Ansari, several of his followers, including 22 municipal councillors from Gangavathi and two from Kushtagi in Koppal District, joined the Congress.
