Mysuru: In a major setback to Congress in the city, several of its long time party leaders and workers from Krishnaraja Constituency will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of state BJP Chief B S Yeddyurappa on April 30.

It is gathered that local leaders including Krishnappa of ward number 13, M N Ramesh from ward number 15, M C Ramesh of ward number 18, Siddappa of ward number 8 and P Upendra Kumar along with more than 500 of their supporters will be joining BJP party to strengthen BJP candidate and former minister S A Ramadas.

Addressing the media, M C Ramesh alleged, “The present Congress MLA M K Somashekar sidelined many Congress leaders. He didn’t even have the courtesy to invite senior leaders in the constituency while filing nomination papers. Apart from this, most of the time he has involved himself in caste politics and sidelined the senior Congress leaders in the constituency.” Announcing his decision to switch sides, he added, “These are the reasons for our decision to join BJP and support Ramadas.”