BENGALURU: The Congress may have succeeded in pacifying Belagavi’s Jarkiholi brothers but the offshoot of dissent that quietly spread to other MLAs is refusing to die down. After making way for heavy speculation with their impromptu trip to Tamil Nadu, MLAs of the Congress- Dr Sudhakar and MTB Nagaraj returned to Bengaluru to defend the party. Dr Sudhakar took to Twitter to claim that he was a staunch Congressman and had no intentions of resigning from the party.
Meanwhile, MTB Nagaraj held meetings with D K Shivakumar and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal over his demands. Sources privy to the meeting said Nagaraj was miffed with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for backing another Kuruba legislator to be inducted into the cabinet.
“It’s deeply shocking how a visit to a temple with one’s friends can be flagged as a political conspiracy! I had visited a temple in TN with M T B Nagraj & few of my friends. Now, few media channels are tagging it as ‘Operation Kamala’. Well, I am a Doctor but I don’t indulge in such Operations! I have always been & will continue to be a staunch Congressman. And, I strongly believe in our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi & the ideologies of my Party,” Dr Sudhakar tweeted on Sunday morning.
The Chikkaballapur MLA told Express that while there were differences and issues that needed to be addressed, he had no intentions of quitting the party. “I don’t think issues are resolved. When two parties that were at loggerheads during elections come together, you can’t expect everything to be a smooth affair. The Chief Minister should treat Congress and JD(S) MLAs on par and try to take everyone together,” he said.
Sudhakar is still miffed that his request to not make Shivashankar Reddy the district in-charge minister was sidelined by both Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy.MTB Nagaraj said, “I am not a saint but a politician. I do wish to become a minister,” Nagaraj told the media. Despite the dissent within, the Congress is far more confident today than it was a week ago.”