BELAGAVI: To prevent possible trouble to the coalition government from the team of disgruntled Congress MLAs, including Ramesh Jarkihioli, after the Lok Sabha election results are out, the Congress, is increasingly coming under pressure from its leaders to expel Ramesh immediately from the party. Congress leaders Satish Jarkiholi and Shamnur Shivashankrappa warned the party on Tuesday that Ramesh could become an obstacle to the government, if not stopped.
Soon after Ramesh Jarkiholi called his brother Satish Jarkiholi mad, accusing him of destroying him (Ramesh) on Tuesday, all three Jarkiholi brothers resorted to a war of words. “Technically, I am still with Congress but I will soon resign from the Congress party’s primary membership. I am not happy with the Congress party’s leadership, and it has worsened since 1999 in the state.
Already, he (brother Satish) has destroyed one brother (Ramesh) and is bent upon destroying another (younger brother Lakhan Jarkiholi). I will not allow him to destroy another of his brothers,’’ said Ramesh in Gokak on Tuesday.Responding to a question on attempts being made by Satish to field Lakhan as the Congress candidate replacing Ramesh in the possible by-elections to assembly from Gokak shortly, the latter said, “I will be the happiest person to see Lakhan becoming an MLA.
If Lakhan contests from Gokak, I too have many other constituencies to contest from in the state. But we (Jarkiholi family) will take a call together on whether Lakhan should contest the assembly polls,’’ said Ramesh.On the other side, a section of BJP leaders are waiting for the results of Lok Sabha polls to be out to resort to another round of ‘Operation Lotus’ in an attempt to destabilise the coalition government by using Ramesh Jarkiholi.
After his failed attempts to get 15 Congress MLAs into BJP in the recent ‘attempted Operation Lotus’, Ramesh is keen to make another last-ditch attempt to revive the operation again after the LS polls.However, Lakhan has said in Gokak that he would not quit the Congress and that Gokak would always remain a bastion of the Congress party. After working closely with Ramesh for almost two decades, Lakhan has parted with him and now wants to associate with Satish to make it to the political big league.