Belagavi: The Congress could pay a heavy price for dropping former Minister, Satish Jarkiholi from the cabinet as he and his supporters are reportedly readying to jeopardise its prospects in several constituencies in the coming assembly poll by playing spoilsport and splitting its votes.
While some of Mr Satish Jarkiholi’s supporters have already joined the JD(S), those who remain in the Congress are said to be upset at the decision to drop him from the cabinet and believe he is being sidelined by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC leaders.
Already, backward class leaders in many areas have openly come out in his support , assuring him of their cooperation these elections. Going by sources, AICC general secretary, Venugopal tried to pacify the former Minister in Bengaluru on Tuesday to pre-empt the damage he could do the party, but it may have been too late as the disgruntlement runs deep among his loyalists.
“We suffered a raw deal despite being loyal to the party for so long. Forget receiving important positions in local bodies or tickets in the coming elections, we were suppressed in Belagavi. The party has been hijacked by one or two Congress leaders here,” said APMC chairman, Shivangouda Patil, who recently quit the Congress to join the JD(S).
Accusing district Minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi of ignoring all loyal leaders of the party, the rebel leaders warned the Congress would realise the damage they could do in the coming polls.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Satish Jarkiholi said his associates had left the party because they were upset that it had hurried to announce the name of a party candidate (Laxmi Hebbalkar) for Belagavi rural for the coming elections.
But he denied he planned to join the JDS himself and declared he would contest the coming elections to score his third win on a Congress ticket.
