Jeddah, Mar 10: Disgruntled senior congress leader C K Jaffer Sharief, who was denied Congress ticket, is in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
He arrived at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) on Wednesday.
A posse of NRIs including members of Indian Fraternity Forum welcomed him in the airport.
Earlier, he had said he was miffed over denying congress ticket to contest from Bangalore central constituency thought he was six time MP from the party.
Meanwhile, JD (S) has claimed that Jaffer Sharief 's candidature almost sure ', he was “99 per cent likely to be their candidate for Mysore” from Mysore and he will take on Congress candidate H Vishwanath and BJP candidate Prathap Simha.
He would file nomination papers after returning from Umrah, sources in the JD (S) said.
Mr Vishwanath said that he had spoken to Mr Sharief, who comforted him saying, “You are like my son and I will not contest against you.”
JD(S) leader and MLA G T Deve Gowda told presspersons here on Wednesday that there was no doubt about Mr Sharief 's entry into the party fold and his candidature from Mysore.
“Mr. Sharief has been treated shabbily by the Congress. The JD(S) was keen on accommodating a tall leader who would strengthen secular forces in the country and combat communalism,” said Mr. Gowda, who averred that the JD(S) was set to open its account in Mysore in the polls. (The Mysore Lok Sabha constituency has been a Congress citadel, but it has been breached twice in recent elections-1998 and 2004-by the BJP).
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also had hour long talks with Mr Sharief on Tuesday.
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