Bengaluru | Belagavi: Follower of former minister and Congress MLA, Mr Satish Jarkiholi, under the banner of ‘Manava Bandutva Vedike,’ took out a rally from the KSR Railway Station to Freedom Park in the city on Tuesday demanding a Cabinet berth for their leader. The ruling Congress has kept six of the berths allotted to it in the coalition government vacant.
The rally was attended by hundreds of people from across the state. Addressing the gathering, former MLC A.K. Subbaiah accused the BJP and certain Veerashaiva maths of trying to destabilise the coalition government headed by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and said secularism had prevailed in the state because of the coalition government.
Others who spoke on the occasion, said Mr Jarkiholi had been deliberately sidelined in the Congress in the last five years. He was made a minister in 2013 but was dropped subsequently. Mr Jarkiholi was a ‘casteless leader’ loved by people of all communities and was responsible for the Congress winning a huge number of seats in the 2013 and 2018 Assembly polls, they said
Manava Bandutva Vedike convenor Ravi Naikar said they will urge the coalition government to ensure social justice in the allotment of cabinet berths as well as in appointment of leaders to various local bodies and corporations. The Vedike's anti-superstition events conducted in many crematoria and graveyards in the state in recent years, had attracted several noted rationalists and thinkers from across the country.
However, singing a different tune, Jarkiholi stated in Belagavi that under no circumstances would he accept a cabinet berth if it was given to him under pressure from the Vedike's ongoing protests.
He said that he had resigned from the post of AICC Secretary already but was not aware if the party had accepted his resignation or not.
A five-time legislator, Satish Jarkiholi is upset over the manner in which some of his party's state leaders exerted pressure on the AICC and ensured his name was dropped from the list of cabinet ministers at the last moment.
A large number of his supporters had gone to Bengaluru to attend the swearing-in ceremony of ministers recently believing that Jarkiholi would be inducted into the cabinet.
