BSR Congress decides to merge with BJP

BELLARY: Giving a boost to BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BSR Congress leader B Sriramulu today announced his party's decision to merge with it more than two years after he had walked out of the saffron party.

"I have decided to rejoin BJP because people of the country want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister," he told reporters after the BSR Congress' Executive Committee and workers meeting here.

The BSR Congress' decision comes close on the heels of merger of Karnataka Janata Paksha of former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa with BJP, which is keen on avoiding a split in votes having learnt a bitter lesson in the May Assembly polls last year which saw it being reduced to a third position in percentage of votes secured.

BJP had won 19 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 polls, followed by Congress six and JDS three.

Sriramulu said his return was without any pre-conditions, adding, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari had agreed to it.

Sriramulu, who left BJP in November 2011 and formed his own outfit, was once a close aide of mining baron Janardhana Reddy, now in jail in Andhra Pradesh in an illegal mining case.

He had earlier ruled out merger or alliance with BJP and said it would contest five Lok Sabha seats. BSR Congress had won four seats in the assembly polls in May last.

Sriramulu said, if given a chance, he was ready to contest as BJP candidate from Bellary.