In the early 1990s, with "rift between Hegde and Deve Gowda worsening", Chandru quit the Janata Dal. In 1991, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was nominated as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council in 1998 and for the second time in 2004, completing the term in 2010. In 2008, he was appointed the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority. The position was the same rank of a cabinet minister, and Chandru was retained by the subsequent governments, despite his resignation from BJP in 2013. He cited "dedicat[ing himself for the cause of the State and Kannada language" as the reason for the quitting. In March 2014, he joined the Indian National Congress.