“MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar and I are suffering the same fate. The only difference is that she is shedding tears over it and I am not,’’ senior Congress leader and MLA Satish Jarkiholi said in Belagavi on Wednesday. Both the leaders from Belagavi had hoped to join the State Cabinet, but were disappointed.
“She has been complaining that some powerful leaders in the party lobbied against her becoming a Minister. I am saying the same thing,” he told presspersons at his residence.
Mr. Jarkiholi said that he was upset. “I have also made it clear that I will not accept an offer to join the Cabinet now or later. If the party were to ask me, I will nominate one of the 15-20 MLAs who are my followers.”
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He felt, however, that the discontent among some MLAs and leaders for not being made Ministers would not affect the longevity of the alliance government. “Everything will be resolved in internal platforms. I will participate in a meeting of MLAs who are upset with the ministry formation in Bengaluru on June 14 or 15.” He said he had already resigned as the AICC secretary in charge of Telangana, but ruled out quitting the Congress or joining the BJP. “I will never do that,’’ he said.
Earlier, members of Manava Bandhutva Samiti, the anti-blind belief NGO that he founded, and some of his supporters staged a rasta roko in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. They shouted slogans against the Congress leadership and sought his immediate inclusion in the Cabinet.