Bengaluru: A day after a hush-hush meeting between PWD minister H D Revanna and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje, and spiralling tension between JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda and his -kin on the one hand and former chief minister Siddaramaiah on the other, speculation about another effort by BJP leaders to dislodge the coalition government through a no confidence motion during next month's budget session gained traction with rebel Congress leader Ramesh Jarkiholi set to emerge as the possible Trojan horse in the Legislative Assembly.
The meeting between Mr Revanna and Ms Karandlaje, during the ongoing national executive, coincided with a decision by Congress leaders to issue a second notice to four errant legislators including Mr Ramesh Jarkiholi to show up soon after skipping the crucial legislature party meeting on January 18, and a warning to state unit leaders against making comments on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, his father Mr Deve Gowda and other members of his family.
The prospect of Mr Ramesh Jarkiholi remaining incommunicado till the budget session and subsequently leading a group of disgruntled Congress legislators away during the budget session gained credence with his sibling and forests minister Satish Jarkiholi on Wednesday admitting to the media that he was not aware of the whereabouts of Mr Ramesh Jarkiholi even after KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao dispatched the second notice to the former minister with directions to show up at a CLP and explain his absence.
To the first notice, however, Mr Ramesh Jarkiholi had responded that he could not make it to the CLP on January 18 as he was busy with his daughter’s wedding.
But sources in BJP said state unit president B S Yeddyurappa had convened a meeting with former cabinet colleagues at his residence to discuss all aspects of the blueprint for a no trust motion during the budget session. Unconfirmed reports hinted at a crucial role by mining baron and former minister G Janardhan Reddy in the strategy to bring down the eight-month-old coalition government. Mr Reddy reportedly offered to woo at least ten Congress legislators and ensure their absence when Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar announces voting on a BJP sponsored no confidence motion.
Mr Yeddyurappa met with senior colleagues on a day when tension between the coalition partners showed no signs of ebbing: Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy made veiled against Mr Siddaramaiah, and former minister Mr A Manju asked the Chief Minister not to resort to blackmail tactics by repeatedly threatening to quit, adding Congressmen had every right to praise their leaders. “ It is not the duty of Mr Kumaraswamy to dictate about whom to be praised. What’s wrong in praising our leaders Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge, former AICC president Sonia Gandhi and AICC president Rahul Gandhi? As Congressmen, it is our duty to praise the efforts of our leaders, and who else will praise our leaders?” he queried in a recorded message sent to the media in Hassan, the home turf of Mr Deve Gowda.
