After two rounds of meetings with State Congress leaders on Sunday, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal has given the responsibility of dousing discontent among party legislators to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He has been told to hold talks with the Jarkiholi brothers and convene a meeting of party legislators, if necessary.
Mr. Venugopal is learnt to have told Mr. Siddaramaiah, who returned to Bengaluru from a 12-day foreign tour, to hold parleys with Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and MLA Satish Jarkiholi to calm the storm brewing in the party after the PLD Bank elections in Belagavi.
Being seen as close to Mr. Siddaramaiah, the Jarkiholi brothers have been sulking with the party leadership after facing a setback in the PLD Bank elections following Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar’s candidates winning the top posts.
Meanwhile, Mr. Siddaramaiah is also believed to have told Mr. Venugopal that some party leaders are unnecessarily dragging his name into controversies, though he has nothing to do with them.
After meetings with KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, working president Eshwar Khandre, and Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Venugopal told reporters that the party would intervene and settle the issue in case of any differences with the Jarkiholi brothers.
Mr. Venugopal said the State government’s functioning would not be hampered owing to such issues. “The issue is related to a district and it won’t affect the government at all,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Satish Jarkiholi told reporters in Belagavi that he and his brother should not be held responsible if any MLA resigned from the party.
Cabinet expansion
With too many aspirants for six vacant Cabinet berths in the party’s quota, the expansion exercise is likely to be delayed by a few more days. It was decided to fix a meeting with party president Rahul Gandhi to discuss the list of legislators to be inducted into the Cabinet.
In the bypolls to three Legislative Council seats, sources said the Congress will field two candidates, while JD(S) one. The coalition parties hope to stall the BJP from electing even a single candidate to the Upper House. The coalition partners will follow the same pattern in nomination of candidates to three vacant seats in the Council.
