BENGALURU: Less than a month ago, the former Water Resources Minister M B Patil confident of a Congress victory has even harbored ambitions of becoming Chief Minister after Siddaramaiah’s second term in the post. Thinking that Congress would sail smoothly past the majority mark in the Legislative Assembly, he had even staked claim to the Deputy Chief Minister berth in late May.
A month later, the calculations of arguably the most prominent Congress leader in North Karnataka region appears to have gone awry. Sitting in front of his supporters at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru, Patil was found seething in anger, forcing even his closest aides to stay away from his wrath. His ire was surrounding the fact that he did not make it to the cabinet, despite being the only leader to have Congress leader Sonia Gandhi campaign for him in the run up to the elections.
Speaking to Express, Patil said that he has decided not to accept any ministerial berths in the coalition government and would concentrate on the development of his constituency. “Moreover, I am tired. During the last five years, , I have worked hard to fulfill my responsibilities as a minister and also to improve party prospects. I will now rest for five years and take care of my health, family and my institutions,” he said.
Patil being denied a cabinet berth, after spearheading both the Lingayat separate religion movement and Congress campaign in Mumbai - Karnataka region, has not gone well with both the minister and
his supporters.Apart from the theatrics of his supporters who threatened to commit suicide as he was not included in the list, Patil’s meeting with Congress leaders during the day appeared to have done little to calm his temper. During the evening, even his supporters had grown angry and cornered the Congress leaders who visited his residence.
To a question, he said that he was not unhappy with the decision of Congress high command.“But, some of my supporters were disgruntled by the decision as they had travelled here thinking that I would be sworn in as a minister,” he said.
Though he ruled out the possibility of resigning from the party, he said that he would take a decision on his future course of action after meeting former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.Despite apprehensions of his defeat in Babaleshwar constituency, he had surprised his critics by registering victory by over 29,700 votes. However, his political fortunes appears to have suffered a hit now, as he is being reduced to an MLA.