BJP MLA Arabail Shivaram Hebbar’s son Vivek Hebbar on Thursday joined the Congress along with his supporters at Banavasi in Uttara Kannada district.
Mr. Vivek joined the party in the presence of State Congress Vice-President and former MLC Ivan D’Souza and others.
For a while now there have been rumours about the possibility of Mr. Shivaram, MLA from Yellapur Assembly seat, joining the Congress. He had not turned up for voting during the polls to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka held on February 27, causing embarrassment to the BJP.
The senior BJP leader was earlier with the Congress. He was among 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators who had quit their parties, which ultimately led to the collapse of the then H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government in July 2019. Mr. Shivaram later won the bypoll on a BJP ticket and served as Minister.
