Bengaluru(PTI): Two days after resigning from the Karnataka legislative council, BJP legislator Baburao Chinchansur on Wednesday joined the Congress.

Two weeks ago, another BJP legislator, Puttanna, too had resigned from the council and the party, and joined the Congress.

Chinchansur, who had played a key role in the defeat of Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge from Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, returned today to the Kharge-led Congress.

According to Congress state president D K Shivakumar, Chinchansur had expressed his desire to join the party on Ugadi, the new year day observed according to the Hindu calendar in Karnataka.

“Today, Baburao Chinchansur who comes from Mallikarjun Kharge’s home district has joined the Congress reposing faith in Kharge’s leadership. I welcome him to the party,” Shivakumar said.

Chinchansur had been a Congress man till 2018 and served as a minister in the Siddaramaiah government from 2013 to 2016. After his defeat in the 2018 assembly election, he joined the BJP and played a key role in defeating Kharge at the hands of BJP candidate Umesh Jadhav.

Besides lauding the leadership of Kharge, Chinchansur also expressed his gratitude to Shivakumar. “For the favour he has done for me, I will remain indebted to him in my next seven births,” Chinchansur said.

He also vowed that he would ensure that the Congress would win at least 20 to 25 seats in the Kalyana Karnataka region bordering Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming assembly elections. “I will demonstrate the strength of Baburao Chinchansur to the people of Karnataka in 2023,” the new entrant to the Congress said.

To a question regarding his differences with Kharge, Chinchansur said his fight with the Congress president was like the one between a father and a son, which has now been resolved.