B. Nagendra, Congress MLA who represents Ballari (ST) Assembly constituency, has found himself in a tricky situation after his failed attempts to get BJP ticket for his elder brother Venkatesh Prasad.
Mr. Nagendra, who is miffed at not being given a ministerial berth in the coalition government, had given indications that he would quit the Congress and join the saffron party.
In fact, disappointed with the Congress’ lack of response to his demand, he had reportedly begun parleys with mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy and other leaders of the BJP to field his brother as the party candidate from Ballari.
Mr. Prasad formally joined the BJP in the presence of district BJP president and other local leaders just a couple of days prior to the announcement of candidates.