Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (DC)

Bengaluru, Jun 4: N Nagaraju, who was a BJP ticket aspirant from Jayanagar where assembly election was withheld following death of B N Jayakumar, on Monday June 4 joined the Congress.

Nagaraju, member of BJP from Kaval Bhairasandra ward joined the Congress in the presence of former minister H M Revanna and Ramalinga Reddy. He has started campaigning for Soumya Reddy in Jayanagar.

The election for the Jayanagar assembly constituency is scheduled to be held on June 11 and the results will be out on June 16. BJP gave the ticket to B N Vijaykumar’s brother B N Prahlad which irked Nagaraju as well as several BBMP members.

The Congress has fielded Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Soumya Reddy, the JD(S) has given ticket to Kalegowda, and Ravi Krishna Reddy is contesting as an independent candidate.

Moments after the BJP declared Prahlad as the candidate, Nagaraju in a post on Facebook congratulated Congress candidate Soumya Reddy. "Jayanagar is finished and handed over to Congress. All the 6 corporators do not accept this and it's waste of 1 seat," he posted.

The development comes days after Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government, following BJP state chief Yeddyurappa's resignation as chief minister as the party did not have enough numbers to pass the floor test despite being the single largest party. In Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat for which election was also delayed, the Congress scored a victory with a margin of 25,000 votes.

The election at Jayanagar was withheld following the sudden demise of B N Vijaykumar on May 4.