Bengaluru: Senior politician and former Congress MLC C.M. Ibrahim, who resigned from the Congress recently, took over as the new President of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) of the State Unit at the party headquarters (J.P. Bhavan) in Bengaluru on Sunday in the presence of the party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Ibrahim replaces Sakaleshpur MLA H.K. Kumaraswamy as the State President. H.K. Kumaraswamy has been appointed as the President of JD(S) National Parliamentary Board.

Ibrahim, who had served as a Union Minister in the Governments headed by H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral during 1996-98, quit the Congress recently after he was denied the Leader of the Opposition post in the Legislative Council.

Speaking on the occasion, H.D. Deve Gowda described Ibrahim as an able leader who would strengthen the party. Pointing out that a leader from the minority community has been appointed to the top post, he said that this disproves the propaganda that the party gives space only for its family members.

 Expressing optimism that the party would achieve its goal of 123 seats in the 2023 Assembly polls, Deve Gowda maintained that he had given a good number of berths to OBCs, SCs, STs and other community leaders in his cabinet when he was the CM of the State. Ibrahim has returned to his parent party after a gap of some years, he added. 

C.M. Ibrahim, in his address, maintained that the Congress would not come to power in next year’s Assembly polls. He vowed that H.D. Kumaraswamy would become the next CM of Karnataka.  Party MLAs Bandeppa Kashempur, K.M. Krishnareddy and Dasarahalli Manjunath, leaders T.A. Saravana, Zafrulla Khan and others were present.

Tanveer Sait’s close aide joins JD(S)

At the event, Mysuru politician Abdul Khader Shahid, a close aide of N.R. Congress MLA Tanveer Sait joined the JD(S) in the presence of top party leaders. Shahid, who had served as President of Azeez Sait Block Congress, was recently expelled from the Congress for anti-party activities.

It may be mentioned here that C.M. Ibrahim who had visited Mysuru a couple of months ago when he was a Congress MLC, had paid visit to the residence of Shahid and held talks with him.