Ramesh Jarkiholi, B Nagendra meet Siddaramaiah, pledge their loyalty to Congress

Bengaluru: A day after former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted that the disqualification petition against the four rebel MLAs before the Speaker would not be withdrawn, two of the legislators, Ramesh Jarkiholi and B. Nagendra, met him to reportedly plead their loyalty to the Congress.

While the Karnataka Congress tweeted on Friday that “MLA Shri Nagendra and Shri Ramesh Jarkiholi met CLP leader Shri @siddaramaiah along with minister Shri Zameer Ahmed Khan,” it did not reveal what transpired at the meeting.

But going by party sources, both legislators pleaded their case with Mr Siddaramaiah, asking him to withdraw the disqualification proceedings against them and in response he is said to have advised them not to take any decision in haste until Lok Sabha elections.

The four disgruntled Congress MLAs, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Dr K. Umesh Jadhav, B. Nagendra and Mahesh Kumathali, who had gone missing for almost two months amid political turmoil in the state, surfaced on Wednesday, two days after the party recommended their disqualification. The legislators had kept the party on tenterhooks for several weeks, defying its whip twice to attend the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings on January 18 and February 8.

They had also skipped the Budget session and were reported to be in touch with the BJP, which has been accused of trying to poach the MLAs to bring down the JDS-Congress coalition government in the state. Although Dr Jadhav and Mr Kumathali have not met Mr Siddaramaiah, they attended the Budget session on Wednesday and Thursday.

Party insiders believe that Dr Jadhav has made up his mind to join the BJP as he has reportedly been promised ticket to contest Lok Sabha poll from Kalaburgi against Congress veteran M. Mallikarjuna Kharge, his arch rival.

Mr Kumathali, a close associate of Mr Jarkiholi, is said to have kept away from Friday's meeting due to recent differences with him.