Bengaluru: Former Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is busy campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates contesting from Gundlupet and Nanjangud to Karnataka State Assembly.
The voting in Gundlupet and Nanjangud is scheduled for April 9. The by-election to Gundlupet assembly segment is necessitated due to the demise of MLA H C Mahadeva Prasad on January 3.

Nanjangud seat fell vacant with Srinivasa Prasad resigning as MLA in December 2016. Srinivas Prasad was miffed with Congress after he was dropped from Siddaramaiah Cabinet.

Krishna’s grand-nephew Dr Niranthara Ganesh has announced on Wednesday to join Congress and contest from Kadur to the Karnataka Assembly in 2018. “Though I am not an active member of Congress, I have been supporting Congress for the last two years. My friends and well-wishers advised me to join Congress,’’ Dr Niranthara Ganesh said over the telephone.

Dr Niranthara Ganesh has been working as an orthopedic at M S Ramaiah Hospital in Bengaluru north suburb. Dr Ganesh hails from Mudigere in Chikmagaluru district in Karnataka. “My main focus is to improve health and education sector in Kadur from where I am planning to contest to the State Assembly,’’ Dr Ganesh said.

While S M Krishna has criticized Congress for ignoring him, Dr Ganesh has opined that his family is indebted to Congress. “Dr Ganesh is a nice chap. He has done a lot of charity work. He is set to join Congress officially shortly,’’ Dinesh Gundu Rao, working president, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, said over the phone.