Bengaluru, Apr 21: Chief minister Siddaramaiah’s dinner meeting with rebel leader M H Ambareesh fuelled speculation that the latter will be shortly re-inducted into the cabinet to make up for the loss of veteran Congress leader S M Krishna in Mandya.
Siddaramaiah, accompanied by ministers M B Patil and K J George, had met Ambareesh at his residence on Wednesday and held talks for over two hours. However, Siddaramaiah on Thursday said it was a courtesy call and it had nothing to do with the re-induction of Ambareesh.
After talks with the CM, Ambareesh had ruled out quitting the party. Ambareesh, a prominent Vokkaliga leader from Mandya, had raised a banner of revolt against the chief minister after he was dropped from the cabinet last year. He was planning to quit as Congress MLA and was reportedly looking forward to joining the BJP.
The news has come as a major relief for the Congress as several leaders had starting deserting the party. The victory in the recent bypolls in Gundlupet and Nanjangud seems to have prompted the leaders and workers to rethink, at least for now.
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