Bengaluru, Dec 24: A day after he was dropped from the H D Kumaraswamy ministry, senior Congress MLA and Belagavi strongman Ramesh L Jarkiholi on Sunday threatened to quit the party. Several other party MLAs, including Ramalinga Reddy, sulked over denial of a cabinet berth.
Ramesh, in a purported telephonic conversation with a TV news channel reporter in Belagavi, said he would quit as MLA “anytime now”. Asked if other Congress MLAs would follow suit, he said: “I won’t disclose the number now. Wait for a week.”
He told reporters at Gokak Falls that he had been planning to quit for three months.
My next step will be good for the people of Belagavi district and the state,” Ramesh told reporters.
Sources said Mahesh Kamatalli (Athani) and Srimanth Patil (Kagawad) may follow Ramesh, who helped them win the assembly elections. Congress MLC Vivekrao Patil may also quit.
In Bengaluru, former minister Ramalinga Reddy indirectly blamed former CM Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister G Parameshwara for blocking his entry into the cabinet, saying they were trying to scuttle his career.
He expressed displeasure over the party high command adopting different yardsticks for cabinet berths. “They say seniors are being kept out of the cabinet and (they still) make RV Deshpande, KJ George and DK Shivakumar ministers. I am upset with this stance of the party,” he said.
KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao advised disgruntled MLAs to keep their cool. “Sometimes, the most deserving don’t get what they deserve. I, too, have been made to resign from the cabinet in the past. I hope everybody will understand,” Gundurao said in Belagavi.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah expressed confidence Ramesh Jarkiholi will not leave the Congress and dismissed Reddy’s charges that some leaders blocked his entry into the cabinet. “The dissatisfaction of Ramesh and BC Patil is expected,” he said.
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