Senior BJP leader and former Minister Malikayya Guttedar joins Congress

Former Minister and BJP leader Malikayya Guttedar on Friday joined the Congress.

The six-time MLA from Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district has been upset with the induction of his brother Nithin Guttedar into the BJP.

M Y Patil from Congress had won the seat in the 2023 Assembly election, in which Malikayya Guttedar had finished third behind Nithin, who contested as an independent.

The 67-year-old Malikayya Guttedar had been criticising BJP veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra who is BJP state president after his brother's move.

Welcoming Malikayya Guttedar into the party fold, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar claimed that many BJP leaders are willing to join the ruling outfit in the State.

Kalaburagi is the home district of Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, who had won from the seat in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections but lost in the 2019 polls.

Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani is contesting from Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) in the coming general elections.