Meeting of Dr K. Sudhakar, Ramesh Jarkiholi with S.M. Krishna sets tongues wagging
Bengaluru: Adding to the uncertainty surrounding the JD(S)-Congress coalition government which suffered a drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls winning only two of the 28 seats in Karnataka, two Congress MLAs-Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) and Dr K. Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura) met senior BJP leader and former CM S.M. Krishna on Sunday.
Interestingly the two MLAs arrived at Mr Krishna's house at the same time BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa and successful Mandya MP elect Sumalatha Ambareesh were visiting him. It gave rise to speculation that Mr Krishna was emerging as the new rallying point for disgruntled MLAs of the Congress-his former party- who were keen on jumping ship and joining the BJP. '
Though the Congress MLAs did try to play down their visit saying that they were on a courtesy call to Mr Krishna’s residence, there are reports that the BJP is planning a fresh round of ‘Operation Lotus’ to poach on ruling coalition MLAs and bring down the H.D. Kumaraswamy government.
However, Mr Jarkiholi asserted that he was still with the Congress and had come there just to greet Mr Krishna. “Whichever party he may be in, he is a tall leader for us. We still consider him to be our guide and so I came to see him. There is nothing political about it,” he claimed.
When asked if he was planning to resign from the Congress, Mr Jarkiholi said he will quit when the time is opportune.
“At the moment, I am in the Congress. I cannot say now when I will resign. I can't even reveal how many of us will resign. It is like the media going for a sting operation, they tell nobody about it,” he said.
Dr Sudhakar too asserted that his was a personal visit. “Mr Krishna is my political godfather and he is like my father. I was planning to visit him when Mr Jarkiholi came to my house. I brought him along. At the same time, Mr Yeddyurappa and Mrs Sumalatha also came to meet Mr Krishna. It is only a coincidence, we did not discuss politics here,” Dr Sudhakar added.
