The day after Chief Minister Kumaraswamy led Cabinet expansion in Karnataka, the disgruntled and dissident MlAs of the Congress have met at the residence of MB Patil, a former Minister and powerful lingayat leader who spearheaded a movement for a separate religion, on Thursday in Bengaluru.
The parleys between many dissident MlAs, which includes Roshan Baig, Satish Jarki Hole, MB Patil and other have no doubt a serious concern for the Congress and also a threat to the party. Many say the meetings were held to build pressure on the party but confident of overcome these threats.
However a party insider told The Pioneer that in a long run these dissident activities might prove costly for the party. As the party is consolidating its position for the 2019 elections to take on BJP, with a new theory of grouping with local parties which started in Karnataka with JDs Congress has to be careful and douse the up rise against the party.
Several Congress MlAs upset with not getting the birth held separate meetings in Bengaluru and the much-awaited exercise expansion has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the Ministerial aspirants staged protests.
The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah Ministry, including M B Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, H K Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappa and Satish Jarkhiholi.
A meeting held at M B Patil’s residence here today was attended by disgruntled MlAs including M T B Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baig. Jarkiholi, who attended the meeting said they discussed about the Cabinet expansion and it was true that they were “unhappy” over not getting Minister ship. He said “We have discussed about how to set it right by bringing it to the notice of State and Delhi party leadership about capable and efficient aspirants. We have discussed this yesterday also.. today also we discussed and we will meet again.”
Another powerful Congress leader from north Karnataka and former water resources Minister M B Patil blamed the media for creating “a hype” about his meeting with party colleagues and asked “what is wrong with itIJ” Admitting that he was a Ministerial aspirant, the former Minister said nothing was more important than self respect for him, but “that doesn’t mean being anti-party”. He claimed the discussion was about the welfare of the party.
Asked if he would agree for the Minister’s post during the second phase of Cabinet expansion, Patil said “...I’m not a second class citizen. I don’t have any aspirations further... even Deputy Chief Minister for North Karnataka then (before first Cabinet expansion), I had asked for it.”
Patil, a prominent Ministerial face of the Siddaramaiah Government, was at the forefront demanding religious minority tag for lingayats, the largest community in the State.
Another senior Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, and president of Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha that had opposed religious minority tag only for lingayats, by advocating that lingayats and Veerashaiava are the same, has also not been inducted as the Minister.
According to sources, Shivashankarappa also held discussion with leaders and close confidantes. A similar meeting of MlAs took place under former Minister H K Patil’s leadership and was attended by Yashvantharayagouda Patil and S R Patil, among others, sources said.
H K Patil said, “we are thinking about how to avoid such faults from happening in the future and steps need to be taken in this regard.... we will take our next steps. “.
“The party high-command, considering everything, including performance, should take appropriate steps, I am not going to quit the party,” he added.
Protests have also been reported from different places including Belagavi, Haveri and Chellakere, where supporters of Jarkiholi, B C Patil and T Raghumurthy respectively, demanded Minister’s post for their leaders. MlAs at the meetings are said to have expressed dismay about party leadership, especially ClP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the Pradesh Congress Chief, for not getting them Ministerial berths.
Kumaraswamy expanded his 15-day old cabinet, by inducting 25 Ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JDS and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha.