Dhananjay Kumar joins Cong, taunts BSY

Former Union minister V Dhananjay Kumar on Thursday formally joined the Congress in the presence of KPCC president G Parameshwara.

“Yeddyurappa (BJP state president) had said he would never ever go back to the BJP in his lifetime. But then, he went back. I’m not like him,” Kumar said, taking a dig at the BJP strongman.

Kumar was once a staunch loyalist of Yeddyurappa. In December 2012, when Yeddyurappa left the BJP to form the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), Kumar followed suit. Though the KJP was later merged with the BJP and Yeddyurapped returned to the party fold, Kumar did not re-join the saffron party.

He, instead, joined the JD(S). He also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Parliamentary polls from Udupi-Chikkamagalur constituency. Kumar was Union Minister for Civil Aviation in the 13-day A B Vajpayee government. He was Union minister of state for Finance as well as Textiles in the subsequent NDA government. He is a former MP and MLA from Mangaluru.