Laxman Savadi met with state Congress chief DK Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah today.
Days after the BJP dropped him as a candidate in Karnataka, a senior leader today decided to join the Congress after meeting with leaders who said it was their "duty" to take "such great leaders" on board.
Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi met with state Congress chief DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru this morning and hours later, he was in the party.
Laxman Savadi quit the BJP on Wednesday, a day after the ruling party announced its first lot of candidates for the May 10 Karnataka election.
Mr Savadi will be the Congress candidate from Athani, the constituency where the BJP chose Mahesh Kumathahalli. In the 2018 election, Mahesh Kumathahalli was the Congress candidate when Mr Savadi lost to him.
"He (Savadi) feels that he has been humiliated. It is our duty to take such great leaders into the Congress party. There are more than nine or 10 sitting MLAs who want to join us but we don't have space to accommodate them," Mr Shivakumar said.
Mr Savadi is a powerful Lingayat leader and a loyalist of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.
The 63-year-old three-time MLA declared on Wednesday that he had "made a strong decision" and had started working on it, without revealing whether he was in talks with the Congress.
"I have made my decision. I am not one to go around with a begging bowl. I am a self-respecting politician. I am not acting under anyone's influence," Mr Savadi told reporters.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he was "saddened" by Mr Savadi's decision. "...I'm feeling very sad, we shared a close bond. Sometimes such political situations arise. He might have found his political future in the Congress. We will do our job in our party," Mr Bommai said.
A year later, when mass defections from the Congress-Janata Dal Secular government enabled a BJP coup, he was rewarded for his role with the Deputy Chief Minister's post, despite a huge controversy in 2012 after he was caught watching porn in the assembly.
Mahesh Kumathahalli was among these defectors.
In the 2018 polls, the BJP emerged as the largest single party, winning 104 seats, with the Congress and then ally Janata Dal (Secular) winning 80 and 37 seats.
The counting of votes for the 224-seat Karnataka assembly will be held on May 13.