BENGALURU: A delegation of 15 Congress MLAs from Karnataka met All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge at his New Delhi residence on Monday evening and lobbied for ministerial posts when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reshuffles his cabinet.
Kharge, who was in Bengaluru in the morning, landed in Delhi by evening and met the legislators. After meeting Kharge, former minister TB Jayachandra exuded confidence that the reshuffle would happen soon.
“Kharge has responded positively and with compassion. In the interest of the party, the high command will take a call,” Jayachandra told reporters.
Replying to Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar’s warning, Jayachandra clarified that the MLAs have not violated party discipline. “We met none other than our party chief. If there is an internal democracy in any political party, it is in Congress,” Jayachandra remarked.
Chief Whip in the Assembly Ashok Pattan said that the reshuffle may happen after the results of the five-state Assembly elections and bypolls to Davangere South and Bagalakot are announced on May 4. MLAs Beluru Gopalakrishna, Vijay Kulkarni, K Shadakshari, and others were part of the delegation. They are likely to stay in Delhi for a few more days and plan to meet AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and the party’s state in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Some SC community MLAs, including Kollegal MLA AR Krishnamurthy, are likely to return to Karnataka to take part in the Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on Tuesday and fly back to Delhi again, informed sources said.
MLAS MUST MAINTAIN PARTY DISCIPLINE, WARNS SHIVAKUMAR
“All MLAs must maintain party discipline. They must respect the party. They should not damage the party’s reputation in front of the media. The Chief Minister has already spoken on this matter. Everyone’s future lies with the party, not with the media,” Deputy CM and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Shivakumar said.
He, however, maintained that there was nothing wrong with MLAs aspiring to become ministers. “Even first-time and second-time MLAs can become ministers... But this is not the right time. Elections are still going on. Some have gone to Tamil Nadu. Let the elections happen first, then we can think about this,” he said.