Bengaluru/Belagavi: Determined to teach the Congress a lesson for dropping him from the Cabinet at the last moment during the recent expansion, AICC secretary, Satish Jarkiholi and the MLAs supporting him are reportedly preparing to soon give the fledgling Kumaraswamy government “a shock.”
According to sources close to Mr. Jarkiholi, he has the support of 17 disgruntled Congress MLAs and he is waiting for the number to cross 20 to chalk out his next course of action.
Going by two of his trusted loyalists, who held a closed door meeting with him Thursday evening, Mr Jarkiholi is exploring the possibility of extending outside support to the BJP or taking outside support from the saffron party to form the next government. But his first aim is to dislodge the Kumaraswamy government once he gets the support of 20 MLAs, according to them.
Deeply disturbed by his name being dropped just half an hour before the oath taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, Mr. Satish has reportedly told his supporters that “this time there is no question to giving in to party leaders or the high command.” He is said to have explained that he was mentally prepared to leave the party, but before that he intended to give some sleepless nights to Congress leaders.
Mr Wilfred D’ Souza, convenor of the Manava Bandhutva Vedike formed by Mr Jarkiholi, told the Deccan Chronicle that the AICC secretary would take a decision soon about his political future , but before that intended to give some anxious moments to Congress leaders.
“As a first step, Mr. Jarakiholi has made up his mind to resign as AICC secretary and not to accept a Minister’s post even if it is offered to him now. Although chances of him changing his mind are slim at this point, he may relent if Congress president, Rahul Gandhi offers a suitable post to him in the party” he said.
The group of disgruntled MLAs are reportedly exploring two or three options. One is to go as a group of 20 to the Governor and withdraw support to the Kumaraswamy government and offer outside support to the BJP to form the next government.
The other is to resign en mass from the Assembly, reducing the Kumaraswamy government to a minority and the last is to take outside support from the BJP to form the government themselves. But forming a new government could take six months, and whether Mr Satish Jarkiholi is able to keep his flock of disgruntled MLAs together is debatable.
