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BANGALORE: Former MP CK Jaffer Sharief finally decided to sever ties with the Congress after he was denied the ticket for the prestigious Bangalore Central and may join the JD(S) next week.

 Hurt at not getting the ticket, Sharief met former PM HD Deve Gowda here on Saturday. In the past, Sharief had threatened to quit the Congress when things hadn’t gone his way but always retracted. This time, the octogenarian leader is keen on trying his electoral prospects once more after losing the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

 According to JD(S) sources, the party is expected to field Sharief from Mysore where the outfit is looking for a candidate to take on Congress sitting MP AH Vishwanath and BJP’s new entrant Prathap Simha. His candidature is expected to be announced by Gowda on March 21.

 Speaking to STOI after the meeting, Sharief said: "I am not quitting. The Congress has thrown me out.’’

 He said chief minister Siddaramaiah spoke to him. "What’s the point in persuading me now? The Congress seems to have given up on the 2014 elections,’’ he said.

 Gowda said Sharief told him he wasn’t going to look back on the decision he took four days ago to quit the Congress. "Sharief said the stage of reconsidering the decision was over and after returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca, he’ll join me in strengthening secular forces in Karnataka. He’ll go by his conscience and take a decision on contesting elections,’’ Gowda added.

 The Congress picked state youth party president and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s protege Rizwan Arshad to contest from Bangalore Central. The high command also took time to finalize on Arshad’s candidature as they were weighing the repurcussions of not giving it to Sharief.

 Arshad visited Sharief’s house on Saturday evening and during the 30-minute meeting, Sharief told Arshad he had nothing personal against him. He was only feeling bad in the manner the Congress had treated him.