For a senior leader, Gudekote Raghavendra Rao has been extremely temperamental this weekend. On Saturday, he quit the Congress and joined the BJP after he was was sidelined in the bid for state unit chief. A day later, however, he thought it wiser to return.With less baggage though, as his supporters decided to stay back in the BJP.Gudekote Raghavendra Rao (known as Gudekote Raghanna) is a senior Congress leader from Gudekote in Kudligi Taluk under Kottur Assembly constituency. Trouble began when Bhagirathi Maralasiddana Gouda became MLA. Differences cropped up between the two leaders. A decision was taken that the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee presidentship would be divided into three terms. This time, the seat was to go to Gudekote and Raghanna was all set to become president. Gouda, however, had her say and had Raghanna kept out of the race.The murder of former Ramadurga gram panchayat chairman Bandi Suraiah a few days ago gave Raghanna reason enough. Suraiah was a loyalist of Raghanna’s and the murder accused turned out to be supporters of the MLA. Claiming the moral high ground, Raghanna announced his resignation from the Congress and attended Sushma Swaraj’s rally in Bellary on Friday. On Saturday evening, he met Sushma Swaraj at Jindal Air Stripe and announced that he was joining the BJP. That night, he joined the BJP with his followers in the presence of BJP state chief Janardhan Reddy.Sunday saw a change of mind. Though Raghanna is opposed to Bhagirathi Gouda, he is a protege of senior Congress leader K.C. Kondaiah. On Sunday noon, he met Kondaiah at his residence and by evening, was back in Congress. Without his supporters, who decided to stick by the BJP.
