Geeta Shivarajkumar, the wife of sandalwood actor Shivarajkumar, joined the Congress on April 28 at the party office in the presence of KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.
Ms. Shivarajkumar is the daughter of S. Bangarappa, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka in the early 1990s.
She would campaign for Madhu Bangarappa, a Congress candidate in the Soraba constituency in the Shivamogga district.
Mr. Madhu Bangarappa is contested against his own brother Kumara Bangarappa of the BJP. Mr. Madhu Bangarappa quit the JD(S) and joined the Congress about a year ago.
Geeta Shivarajkumar had previously identified herself with the JD(S). In 2014, she contested in the Lok Sabha polls as the JD(S) candidate against BJP’s veteran leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa but lost the election.
Another JD(S) leader, B.B. Ningaiah, former MLA of Mudigere constituency in Chikmagalur district, joined the Congress. He was denied a ticket by the JD(S). The JD(S) fielded M.P. Kumaraswamy, who was denied a ticket by the ruling BJP, in the Mudigere constituency.
