Lucknow, Aug 12, 2013: Former Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police Shankar M Bidari on Monday joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) and is likely to be made the chief of the party’s Karnataka unit.
According to SP sources here, Bidari met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is also the chief of the party in UP, at his residence here and joined the party.
The former top cop was accompanied by the lone SP MLA from Karnataka C P Yogeeshwara of Channapatna and former minister Goolihatti D Shekhar, who joined the party recently.
Bidari, who had joined the Congress on the eve of the Karnataka Assembly polls, was reportedly unhappy with the party leadership for certain reasons. He had been denied the Congress ticket from the Terdal Assembly seat in his home district of Bagalkot. Bidari was also an aspirant for the Congress ticket from the Bagalkot Lok Sabha constituency for the 2014 elections and, it is said that he is unlikely to get it.
To meet Mulayam
Sources said that Bidari might also call on the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in Delhi on Tuesday and discuss the strategy to strengthen the SP in the southern state.
SP office bearers remained tight-lipped over the meeting but admitted that the party was trying to expand its base in Karnataka. “We are obviously buoyed by the victory of one of our nominees in the recent Assembly polls there,” said a party leader. He said that it would be a bonus if the SP managed to win a seat or two from Karnataka in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
