C.S. Dwarkanath, former chairman of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, joined the Congress party in the presence of former chief minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on August 20.
Mr. Dwarkanath, an advocate, joined the Congress at a function at the party office to mark the birth anniversaries of former chief minister late D. Devaraj Urs and former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi.
He was earlier with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Chikkaballapur constituency. He bagged 23,446 votes (1.69%) and secured fourth place.
Noting the contributions of Urs to Karnataka, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Congress stalwart used his political power to promote social justice through equitable distribution of power, resources and opportunities. He claimed to have got inspiration for his political and policy decisions from Urs. He recalled the former chief minister’s achievements in implementation of land reforms and pro-poor schemes.
Mr. Shivakumar said the party had planned to hold the function at Ambedkar Bhavan in Bengaluru but was denied permission. But, the BJP government has been permitting Jana Ashirwad Yatra involving BJP Union Ministers. He accused the ruling party of following different rules for different political parties.
