"Don't need any positions," Karnataka MLA Janardhana Reddy back in BJP

BENGALURU: Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP) leader G Janardhana Reddy merged his party with the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday and rejoined the party along with his wife Aruna Lakshmi ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

They both joined the party in the presence of party leader BS Yediyurappa and state BJP President BY Vijayendra.

Reddy said he decided to work to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again for a third term.

"Today I joined the BJP by merging my party with the BJP. I will work as a BJP worker to make PM Modi, Prime Minister for the third time," Reddy said, adding that he has joined the party without any conditions and was not seeking any position.

Yediyurappa said that Janardhana Reddy induction would strengthen the party.

"G Janardhana Reddy, his wife have joined the BJP. It is a good decision by him. This will strengthen our party, we will win all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies," he added.

Earlier today, before joining the BJP, Janardhan Reddy met Yediyurappa at his residence with his family.

Reddy was a state minister in the Yediyurappa government and was jailed in the alleged mining scam, after which he distanced himself from the BJP. He has been out on bail since 2015.

In 2022, he launched the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha' and contested the 2023 Karnataka assembly polls under the new party. He won from the Gangawati assembly seat.

Janardhana Reddy's brothers, G Karunakara Reddy and G Somashekara Reddy, who were contesting as BJP candidates, had lost in last year's Karnataka assembly polls.

Karnataka, which has 28 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in two phases on April 26 and May 7.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and JD-S fought together against the BJP and the combine was decimated. The BJP had won a record 25 seats; Congress and JD-S won just one seat each.

The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held in seven phases starting on April 19. The counting of votes on June 4.