BELAGAVI: After keeping the Congress-JDS coalition government, as well as the opposition BJP on tenterhooks with his anti-Congress campaigns and his tacit support to the BJP, Ramesh Jarkiholi, found himself dumped by both, the Congress and the BJP on Friday.
The BJP, which hoped that Ramesh would be able to get 15 disgruntled MLAs to support a last-ditch attempt to destabilise the government, distanced themselves from Ramesh as not a single Congress MLA, including those who in the past called him their mentor, were willing to join him on Friday.
Even Congress MLA for Athani, Mahesh Kumathalli, who had in the past stayed with Ramesh for a month in a Mumbai hotel, refused to support him openly. “Jarkiholi only spoke to me about the Lok Sabha elections for the past one month. The media has projected me as being with Jarkiholi all the time,” Kumathalli said. Other MLAs like Bheema Nayak, Nagendra and Shreemant Pail also kept their distance.
Ramesh also faces a threat closer to home. Jarkiholi’s younger brother Lakhan has joined hands with Satish Jarkiholi to finish Ramesh’s political career in Gokak. According to Satish, Lakhan will be the Congress candidate from Gokak in the assembly bypolls due to be held shortly.
For the beleaguered leader, even staying back in the Congress does not seem to be an option anymore. “There is no scope for any leaders to drag their personal clashes into the party,” Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said adding that the Congress would contemplate action if Ramesh decided to resign his post.
However, state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao adopted a more friendly tone. “He (Ramesh) has also realized that the BJP was using him. He will not leave. From the Congress, we have done him no injustice. Let us remember he was a cabinet minister in this government too.’’
On Friday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy met Ramesh and according to sources, Ramesh reportedly gave Kumaraswamy an assurance that he would do nothing to destabilise the government.