Bengaluru: Congress Belgavi MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi has threatened to quit the party on Sunday after being dropped from the Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy cabinet. Several other MLAs from the party who are miffed up with the reshuffle in the state cabinet led by JDS sulked over the denial of a cabinet berth.
Speaking with a TV news channel, Jarkiholi said that he would quit as MLA “anytime now”. He further added that several other disgruntled Congress MLAs would follow his suit within a week, but reserved to comment on the number of MLAs leaving the party.
A five-time legislator from Gokak constituency Ramesh Jarkiholi will decide his future course of action in a day or two.
On December 1, Newsd reported that Ramesh Jarkiholi who was having ‘issues’ with the party leaders in the state was planning to leave Congress, but he had denied that claim.
Earlier, seven-month-old JDS-Congress Coalition government headed by CM HD Kumaraswamy was expanded and eight Congress MLAs were inducted in the new cabinet as per the pact reached by the two partners at the time of forming the coalition government in the state.
MB Patil, RP Thimapura, Satish Jarkiholi, CS Shivaji, Parameshwar Naiki, E Tukaram, Rahim Khan, and MTB Nagraj were sworn in as cabinet ministers. The cabinet was expanded ahead of Lok Sabha election 2019 with the focus to give representation to all communities and regions.
JDS is likely to fill the quota of his two ministers after Makar Sankranti and BM Farookh is among the front-runner for the ministerial berth.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also expressed his dissatisfaction with the Sunday’s cabinet expansion and said that it will give room for dissidence activities by the aspirants.
Kharge while addressing a press conference said, “I also tried to bring another cabinet ministry to Kalaburagi and requested the party leaders about it. But unfortunately, it was not done. I am also unhappy but it was not a matter to propagate.”
On the other hand, Bhartiya Janata Party leader BS Yeddyurappa attacked the JDS-Congress alliance in the state.
He said, “They spent three months unnecessarily and by neglecting State interests. Cabinet expansion scheduled earlier was postponed more than twice. They have failed to provide good administration. This government has proved to be a failure.”
Yeddyurappa also added that denial of a ministerial berth to Ramesh Jarkiholi could lead to a political turmoil in the state.
However, the bigwigs of the Congress Party informed that none of the legislators were quitting the party.
Also read:
Congress wins Kolebira bypoll with Ajoy Kumar’s leap of faith
Amidst Sabarimala row, 4 BJP leaders resign; Likely to join Left Front
Jharkhand: BJP government spends Rs 304 crore on advertisements between 2014-2018
