Karnataka: BJP leader V Somanna not discussed joining Congress, says KPCC president Shivakumar

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar on Monday said senior BJP leader V Somanna had not discussed joining the Congress with him.

"We have not discussed this," Shivakumar, who is also the Deputy CM, told the media in Bengaluru.
"I have read about his sufferings in the media. He is from my own taluk (Kanakapura) and a senior leader. He lost the assembly polls from two seats. I still don't understand why he went to those seats," he said.


Shivakumar's comments come in the wake of heightened efforts in the Somanna camp to bargain a deal with the BJP central leadership. Sections of leaders, inlcuding MLAs, who have identified to be in anti-Yediyurappa camp, are rallying behind Somanna.

Somanna is planning to meet the Delhi leadership with MLAs Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Arvind Bellad and Ramesh Jarkiholi and former minister Aravind Limbavali. The team is planning to camp in Delhi for three days and meet all important leaders in a bid to secure their future in the BJP. The 73-year old Lingayat leader has been sulking after he lost the polls and the party denied him the state unit president, a position he strongly lobbied for to keep himself occupied.