Dr Shushrutha Gowda, who walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir with Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, left the Congress and joined the BJP on Wednesday, less than 48 hours before the Lok Sabha polls began.

Shushrutha, who lives in Mysuru, was recently nominated general secretary of the KPCC.

BJP election in charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal welcomed Shushrutha into the party fold. Former Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan was also present at the BJP office in Bengaluru. His entrance adds another Vokkaliga community member to the BJP.

Shushrutha told reporters that the "vision and mission" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the party's national president JP Nadda inspired him. "My goal is to serve people and I felt BJP is the best party to realise my dream," he told reporters. "BJP has the right people, right platform, and is known to provide opportunities to people with real commitment for the cause of society."

“I only want an educated, non-corrupt, and visionary to be elected as an MP from Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency. So, I am extending my full support to BJP candidate Yaduveer in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

He claimed Congress is “dividing society on caste lines through dirty tricks”.

Reacting to the development, KPCC spokesperson HA Venkatesh said Gowda’s exit won’t impact Congress in Mysore Lok Sabha segment since “Gowda was not active in party organisation”.

He stated that Mr. Lakshmana, the party's candidate for the constituency, is a loyal party worker who has been emphasizing different issues facing the people of the State.

However, no matter how much the Congress party members deny it, Gowda's leaving the party two days before the Lok Sabha elections shows that the party's foundation and party's policies are troubling the big leaders of Congress to a large extent. The reason for worry is that in the last few months, old and complex leaders of Congress have left the party and joined the BJP or other parties.

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