BENGALURU: In a major embarrassment for the Congress leadership, an internal fight among its leaders exploded into a full-blown verbal duel in the presence of senior leaders, ironically at a meeting convened to settle differences and prepare the party for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Sources said that Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and former Belagavi MLA Feroz Sait were involved in heated arguments in the presence of AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, former CM Siddaramaiah, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and other senior leaders. Before the situation could get out of control, the meeting was abruptly called off and the senior leaders walked out.
According to sources, the arguments started after Sait demanded that the party leadership give ticket to contest LS polls from Belagavi constituency to a minority community candidate. The suggestion was opposed by Jarkiholi, who urged the party to give the ticket to a backward community leader.
“The situation worsened when Jarkiholi said that they will not work if the party ticket was given to a minority community candidate. Sait took objection and accused the Congress of neglecting minorities, who always backed the party. He accused some leaders of indulging in anti-party activities that led to the defeat of many candidates, including himself, “ sources said. Senior leaders ended the meeting by asking both of them to suggest names and left.
The Belagavi unit of the Congress party is riddled with differences as the Jarkiholi brothers and MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar too do not have a good working relationship. Hebbalkar had recently accused them of working against party candidates during the PLD bank elections.
“Saturday’s incident has nothing to do with differences between the Jarkiholi brothers and Hebbalkar. Venugopal met Ramesh Jarkiholi and Hebbalkar separately at the KK Guest House to seek their views on the developments and resolve the issue,” sources said. Earlier in the day, Congress leaders held meetings with representatives from many districts on poll preparations.