Former JD(S) leader A T Ramaswamy joins BJP in Delhi a day after quitting as MLA

Ramaswamy, who belongs to the Vokkaliga community, had earlier stated that he was not suited for the “money-driven politics of the present times”. He had also said he would contest the polls if offered a ticket by any party. The JD(S) had already offered the Arkalgud ticket to Ramaswamy’s former rival A Manju, a former Congress minister.

Ramaswamy said Friday that he did not quit the JD(S) but was forced out by money power. Best known for producing a key report on land encroachments in Bengaluru, he is the second JD(S) MLA to quit since the code of conduct for the May 10 Assembly polls took effect.

S R Srinivas, who quit as the JD(S)’s Gubbi MLA, was inducted into the Congress on Thursday. The BJP’s N Y Gopalakrishna is the other legislator to have quit both as an MLA and from his party since the polls were announced by the Election Commission on March 29.

A former Congress MLA, 70-year-old Gopalakrishna is the brother of N Y Hanumanthappa, a former Congress MP from Chitradurga who later became the Orissa High Court chief justice. Gopalakrishna quit as MLA for the Kudligi constituency in Ballari district on Friday.

He had represented the Molakalmuru Assembly seat in Chitradurga four times and the Bellary seat once, both for the Congress. When the Congress denied him the Molakalmuru in 2018, he joined the BJP and won the Kudligi seat. He belongs to the Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak community and his family is known to have close ties with BJP leader B Sreeramulu, of the same community. He was shifted to Kudligi by the BJP after B Sreeramulu wanted the Molakalmuru seat.

Gopalakrishna was among BJP MLAs widely tipped to lose out on a ticket for the 2023 polls on account of his age. A BJP Member of the Legislative Council, Baburao Chinchansur, quit last week and returned to the Congress.