Excise Minister Satish L. Jarkiholi on Friday night withdrew his resignation after a marathon meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He will continue to hold the Excise portfolio.
Mr. Jarkiholi, who submitted his resignation on Tuesday, met the Chief Minister at Public Works Minister H.C. Mahadevappa’s residence here. After the two-hour-long talks, Mr. Jarkiholi decided to take back the resignation.
The meeting between the Chief Minister and Mr. Jarkiholi took place a few hours after AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, reportedly telling Mr. Siddaramaiah to “resolve the issue as early as possible.” Mr. Jarkiholi had quit over his portfolio issue, among other things.
“I will continue as Excise Minister. The Chief Minister promised to allocate another portfolio during the Cabinet reshuffle,” Mr. Jarkiholi told presspersons.
He said he had not put forward any demands. Mr. Jarkiholi said he had resigned as he wanted to focus more on serving the people and strengthening the party-organisation. But party legislators from Belagavi district had pressured him to withdraw the resignation, the Minister said. To a question on who should be blamed for the developments in the last few days, Mr. Jarkiholi replied, “I am myself responsible [for it].”
Earlier, the Chief Minister said the demand for portfolio-change would be considered only at the time of reshuffle, but did not indicate any time frame.
Sources said that the Chief Minister agreed to give one of the portfolios held by him to Mr. Jarkiholi after the legislature session, which would end on February 13.
A delegation of legislators from Belagavi district met Mr. Siddaramaiah on Thursday and urged him to resolve the issue with Mr. Jarkiholi in the interests of the party and the government.
