By IANS,
Bangalore : Nirmala Vankatesh, who was recently sacked as member of the National Commission for Women (NCW), Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a senior leader of the party said. She also expressed her willingness to contest in the Lok Sabha polls if given a ticket.
A former member of the Karnataka legislative council, Vankatesh resigned from the Congress Feb 28 after she was involved in a spat with Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury over her controversial report on the attack on young women at a Mangalore pub Jan 24 by activists of the rightwing Hindu group Sri Ram Sene.
“Nirmala has been admitted into the BJP and will campaign for the party in the parliamentary poll to expose the Congress,” BJP Mahila Morcha general secretary Mangala Sridhar told reporters at the party office here.
In the run-up to joining the ruling party in the state, Vankatesh met BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani at a rally in the city Feb 28.
“I am ready to contest in the Lok Sabha elections if given a ticket by the party from any constituency in the state. Even otherwise, I will campaign for the party to expose the political conspiracy against me to tarnish my image,” Vankatesh said.