Mangaluru: Former Congress party leader Shashiraj Shetty Kolambe along with several supporters joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here at the party office on May 3.
Uttar Pradesh State Minister for Rural Development Mahendra Singh welcomed the Congress party workers into BJP by wrapping the BJP shawl around the workers.
After joining the BJP, speaking on the occasion, Shashiraj Shetty Kolambe said that for several years he had worked for the Congress but the party and District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai insulted Yettinahole activists. “These activists have been striving to get justice for the people of the district. Pained by this insult, I made up my mind to quit the party”, he claimed.
“Our intention is to make the district a Congress-free district. If the BJP comes to power, we will ask the party to reconsider Yettinahole project and see that people of Dakshina Kannada get justice”, he added.
Criticising the Congress and Minister Ramanath Rai, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said, “Rai will not allow any leader to grow above him. To gain political mileage and for vote bank bank politics, the Congress has divided the Hindus and minorities. It was the BJP which made APJ Abdul Kalam the President of India when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister and M J Akbar, the minister of state for external affairs under Modi government.”
Former MLA Padmanabha Kottary, Rukmaya Poojary, Ravi Shankar Mijar and others were present.
