BELAGAVI: It’s a mission accomplished for Gokak strongman and chief rebel Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi at long last. It all started with the big upset by a rival group, led by Belgaum MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, which took over the reins of the PLD Bank in Belagavi in September last year, when he had vowed to bring down the coalition government along with 15-plus disgruntled MLAs of the Congress.
Since then, Jarkiholi held meetings at various places in Karnataka and Maharashtra with a section of BJP leaders to rope in some Congress MLAs into the rebel group with an objective to help the BJP come to power. Jarkiholi’s rebel activities first came out in the open when he attended a party hosted by BJP leaders at a hotel in Belagavi skipping a crucial cabinet meeting at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha during the winter session last December.
His raging rivalry with colleague Laxmi Hebbalkar over the bank election and D K Shivakumar’s continued support to her besides his intervention in the affairs of Belagavi district further infuriated Jarkiholi.
According to sources, Jarkiholi had attended a meeting in Satara last September with several top BJP leaders, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, with the assurance of joining BJP along with all the disgruntled Congress MLAs. This was when the BJP, for the first time, decided to seriously work out plans to topple the coalition government with Jarkiholi’s help. Prior to this meeting, two rounds of talks were held between Jarkiholi and a team of state BJP leaders, led by B S Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu, in Bengaluru the same month. “A long list of demands from eight sulking Congress MLAs of the Jarkiholi group were passed on to Yeddyurappa during the two meetings which included several major projects to be taken up in their constituencies,” sources said.