![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Gen-Asim-Munir-Wikimedia-Commons-415x275.jpg)
Former BJP MLAs Malikayya Guttedar, Sharada Shetty join Congress
PTI, Apr 19, 2024, 7:27 PM IST
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/gang-620x372.png)
Image: X/@INCKarnataka
Two former BJP MLAs Malikayya Guttedar and Sharada Mohan Shetty on Friday joined the Congress, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Guttedar is a six-time MLA from Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district and a former Minister.
Kalaburagi is the home district of Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge, who successfully contested the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections from there but lost in the 2019 polls.
Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani is contesting from Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Guttedar was supposedly upset with the induction of his brother Nithin Venkaiah Guttedar into the BJP earlier this month.
M Y Patil from Congress had won Afzalpur seat in the 2023 Assembly election, in which Malikayya Guttedar had finished third behind Nithin, who contested as an independent.
Malikayya, who was previously with the Congress and had joined the BJP later, had been criticising BJP veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra the state BJP president, after his brother’s move to the party.
According to sources, Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister and Kharge’s son, Priyank Kharge, played a crucial role in bringing him back to the Congress fold.
Sharada Mohan Shetty was a Congress MLA from Kumta in Uttara Kannada district from 2013 to 2018. She had switched over to the BJP after being denied a ticket in the 2018 Assembly elections.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar, who is the State Congress chief, and Priyank Kharge welcomed the two leaders and their supporters into the party fold.
Siddaramaiah said he knew that Malikayya Guttedar would not remain in the BJP for long because he is ‘pro-social justice’.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IndianClicks_GVega_Udayavani_300x250_12032021_1_1.gif)
Related Articles More
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ganesh-Chaturthi-150x105.jpg)
Karnataka ushers in Ganesh Chaturthi with its customary fervour; political tussle over govt’s order
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Nammane-Krishna-15th-winner-150x90.jpg)
Udayavani.com “Nammane Krishna”: Broadcast of 15th Prize-Winning Reel
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Train-Trcaks-rep-Pexels-150x89.jpg)
Trackman’s heroics avert major train disaster on Konkan Railway
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/areca-150x100.jpg)
CAMPCO issues directive against misuse of membership cards to push spurious areca nuts into market
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Darshan-Actor-150x90.jpg)
Kannada actor Darshan to get TV in prison cell
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ganesh-Chaturthi-150x105.jpg)
Karnataka ushers in Ganesh Chaturthi with its customary fervour; political tussle over govt’s order
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Gen-Asim-Munir-Wikimedia-Commons-150x99.jpg)
Pakistan Army Chief acknowledges role of Pak army in Kargil war
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Infant-1-150x100.jpg)
Kushinagar: Man forced to ‘sell’ son for hospital fee, 5 arrested
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CBI-rep-agencies-1-150x113.jpg)
Ex-RG Kar hospital principal had criminal nexus with co-accused for wrongful gains: CBI
![](https://www.udayavani.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/rains-rep-PTI-150x84.jpg)
29 dead in Telangana due to heavy rains, floods
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.