Congress leader and former Minister Varthur Prakash, former JD(S) MLA Manjunath Gowda, former JD(S) MLC Sandesh Nagaraj, and former Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader K.B. Krishnamurthy joined the ruling BJP on Saturday with their supporters.
The leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, among others.
Former IRS officer Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda and Mandya district leader Ashok Jayaram too joined the BJP.
On May 6, Mr. Bommai said leaders from Kolar, Mandya, and Udupi were keen to join the BJP. He said that leaders were being inducted “in batches”.