In a fairly low key affair, M P Prakash, former Janata Dal-Secular leader and home minister of Karnataka, walked into the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru and filled up a primary membership form to formally join the party.
His membership form was endorsed by the state Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge, who formally inducted him into the party on Saturday.
There were no festivities to celebrate the event as was expected. However, the Congress said Prakash, along with his ten of his supporters, will be welcomed into the party on March 16 in the presence of senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chauvan. The Congress plans to kick-start the Janandolan rally across the state on the same day.
Prakash quit the JD-S after certain differences were reported between him and party chief H D Deve Gowda. Immediately after quitting the party, he sent feelers to the Bharatiya Janata Party and it was almost certain that he would join saffron party. However differences in principles cropped up, following which he decided to join the Congress.
There has been a considerable amount of delay in Prakash joining the party ever since he made his intentions clear. Sources said issues pertaining to allocation of tickets to contest polls had arisen and hence these differences had to be sorted out.
Prakash had sought tickets for all his supporters. However the Congress had said that tickets would be handed out only to candidates who they were sure would win.
After joining the party formally, Prakash said that he had thought about the matter considerably before he went ahead. He also said that there were absolutely no conditions laid down by him before joining the party. "My ideas and principles are in conformity with the Congress party," he said.