Karnataka: Former MLA Ningappa will return to JD-S ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 1 (ANI): Former MLA of Tumkur Rural Assembly Constituency H Ningappa will join Janata Dal (Secular) on Tuesday morning, said former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
Notably, Ningappa was earlier in JD(S) but resigned from the party in November 2022 and joined Congress. So this will be a homecoming for the senior leader.
Ningappa said that he is happy that he is returning to the party. He also said that he had a meeting with JDS chief and former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda.
Ningappa, along with his supporters, will join the party at a programme to be held at the state office of JDS at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
In contrast to the above developments, Janata Dal (Secular)'s leader, Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, joined the Congress party on Saturday.
"Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, the young leader who resigned from the Janata Dal and has today officially joined Congress along with her supporters," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a post on X.
Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, the former working president of the Janata Dal (Secular)'s women's wing, joined the party as a worker at the age of 22 and quickly rose through the ranks. Within a year of joining, she became the state-level media spokesperson. At just 25 years old, she was appointed as the working president of the party's women's wing.
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 is on June 4. (ANI)