Satish instigated me to rebel, claims Ramesh

Bengaluru: Even before the heat and dust of the two-phase poll in the state settles down, BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa seems to have set the ball rolling for the third version of Operation Lotus to topple the coalition government in the state, with the help of disgruntled Congress MLA from Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi.

Mr Jarkiholi who is popularly known as ‘Sahukar’ (Lord) in his constituency- Gokak-had openly campaigned for the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate in Belagavi, Suresh Angadi despite his younger brother and forest minister, Satish Jarkholi warning him.

Visibly upset with Congress leaders, Mr Jarkiholi who arrived at his ministerial bungalow (which he has not vacated after resigning from the ministry) in Bengaluru, told the media that he along with some other legislators would discuss and decide on resigning from the party soon.

He sarcastically remarked that he was still ‘technically’ in the Congress but added that he was firm on his stand on resigning from the party.

The former minister contended that his resignation was delayed because those with him had suggested that they should quit together. "I have said what I had to yesterday and today, I will not say anything more. Wait for the Lok Sabha results," he retorted.

Coming down on his younger brother Satish, Ramesh angrily remarked that he was power hungry. "He wanted to be minister at any cost. He is the one, who instigated me to rebel against my party. I played into his hands, now, I am nowhere. I will leave the Congress soon," he said.

"Satish was the one who started it, but now he is projecting himself as a loyal Congressman. Because of such people, the Congress has reached such a situation today. He cheated me and became minister," he charged.

In response to a question, Mr Jarkiholi shot back that he does not have to speak to the ‘self proclaimed leader’ (Water Resources Minister, D.K. Shivakumar) about his problems and would prefer to have a face to face interaction with Congress president, Rahul Gandhi.

Ramesh Jarkiholi has been claiming the support of a sizeable chunk of party MLAs and had come under the scanner over reports that the BJP was trying to use him to remove the Kumaraswamy government. Jarkiholi had even camped in Mumbai along with some Congress MLAs in January pushing the state into political turmoil and did not attend the budget session initially. The Congress had moved a disqualification motion against him and three other MLAs.