After the resignation of influential Dalit leader V Srinivas Prasad from the ruling Congress in Karnataka, many hurt leaders in the party are looking at greener pastures ahead of 2018 Assembly poll, which is crucial to the party led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The spat between Siddaramaiah and his close confidant CM Ibrahim, a leader migrated from JD(S) along with the Chief Minister to the Congress shows all the sign of leaders in search of parties and safe constituencies for the next Assembly elections.
CM Ibrahim who is the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission has criticised the State Government for its failure in many fronts. He questioned Siddaramaiah and said, “Siddaramaiah is not what he was in the past.” He further said, “ We are good friends. But what has the State gotIJ What progress has the State achievedIJ” His comments have created ripples in the Congress and Siddaramaiah said in Mysuru “ it was not possible to satisfy discontented people”. He said, “I cannot help people who are always unhappy.”
It is an open secret in the party that many leaders are unhappy with Siddaramaiah and his style of functioning. After the reshuffle of his Ministry, Siddaramaiah has dropped many Ministers who are now disgruntled and waiting for an opportunity to hop on to another party.
Srinivas Prasad, a prominent Dalit leader from Mysuru openly attacking Siddaramaiah and said after he resigned from the party was to defeat Siddaramaiah. leaders like V Srinivas Prasad, Satish Jarkiholi, MH Ambareesh, and Qamarul Islam (all former Ministers dropped during reshuffle), and Planning Board Deputy Chairman CM Ibrahim and Malikayya Guttedar, MlA, have been vying options to safe abode for the 2018 elections.
Interestingly both the Opposition parties BJP and JDs are vying for these leaders ahead of the polls. BJP leaders have met Srinivas Prasad and invited him to join the party. According to sources CM Ibrahim held talks with JDs leaders and might take some leaders along with him. JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy also met Srinivas Prasad and pressurising him to join the JD(S). The decision of suspending Congress workers, who are supporters of Srinivas Prasad, has also angered many in the party. Besides Prasad and Ibrahim, the JD(S) has been wooing leaders such as Jarkiholi, Qamarul, Ambareesh and Guttedar .
In another development, Bharatiya Janata Party’s State unit president BS Yeddyurappa has said that many leaders in the Congress, including several MlAs, who were fed up with the internal developments in their party and unsatisfied with Siddaramaiah’s way of functioning, were keen on joining his party.
He hinted that they all would officially join the BJP in the presence of his party’s national president Amit Shah during the latter’s visit to the State. He was addressing media conference in Raichur.
Yeddyurappa said that his party was in constant touch with Congress veteran Srinivas Prasad, who recently resigned as member of the legislative Assembly. But, he did not say anything specific on the possibility of Prasad joining the BJP.
“Srinivas Prasad has come out of the Congress as he knew that the party was a sinking ship. We are in touch with him. But, I cannot say anything about the possibility of his joining the BJP. It is true that many Congress leaders are eager to join the BJP. We will accept them and, at the same time, take enough care to ensure that no injustice is meted out to those serving in the party for a long time now,” he said.
Meanwhile in Mangaluru, senior Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary cautioned Siddaramaiah of a huge conspiracy by HD Deve Gowda to destabilise the Congress Government in the State.