Worried Congress entrusts Siddaramaiah with the task of saving Karnataka government
BENGALURU: Hours after he landed in Bengaluru after a 12-day Europe tour, the Congress high command on Sunday assigned former chief minister Siddaramaiah with the job of ending the crisis in the party to save the coalition government.
For the first time after the crisis broke out, Siddaramaiah, the party’s crisis manager, was in the thick of the action as senior leaders including AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, DyCM G Parameshwara and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao landed at his residence in the morning seeking his intervention to defuse the crisis.
They appealed to him to pacify the Jarkiholi brothers, seen as his camp followers, and who are miffed with the leadership after a setback in the Primary Land Development (PLD) Bank elections earlier this month.
He was also asked to talk to MLAs who are lobbying for ministerial berths and speaking against the party.
“Various issues, including current political developments, were discussed and the responsibility to end the crisis has been entrusted to Siddaramaiah,” said party sources. He is likely to convene a meeting with MLAs to discuss the issue.
During the meeting, Siddaramaiah is learnt to have taken exception to his name being dragged into the Belagavi politics and some sections of leaders questioning his alleged silence over the issue. After the meeting, Venugopal tried to play down the crisis — which started after Jarkiholi brothers openly expressed their displeasure against the leadership — by terming it as a “local issue” that was resolved by the state leaders. “There is no threat to the government and we have full faith in our MLAs,” he told reporters. He accused the BJP of using Central agencies and black money to destabilise the government.
The crisis, however, seems to be far from over. Giving an indication of the threat the coalition government could face in the next few days, Congress MLA Satish Jarkiholi said, “What can we (brothers) do if some party MLAs quit and join BJP?”
Satish even said there was no need for them to meet Siddaramaiah as they “don’t have a serious subject matter to discuss”.Since the time the tussle between Jarkiholis and MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar to control Belagavi politics triggered a storm in the Congress, Siddaramaiah was away in Europe. He returned to the city in the wee hours of Sunday.’
Congress points to Operation Lotus
Congress MLA Anil Chikkamadu and JD(S) KC Annadani accused the BJP of offering them ministerial berths if they joined the party. “BJP has offered money to our MLAs. We have filed a complaint with the I-T dept. One group led by Yeddyurappa is trying to topple the government,” said the state Congress chief.