Anything can happen in next 15 days: Satish Jarkiholi

Senior Congress leader and former minister Satish Jarkiholi, who is miffed with the party, on Tuesday said that anything can happen in state politics in the next fortnight.

“Anything can happen in politics. We have urged the party leaders to resolve certain issues related to Belagavi district. I hope the high command will take the issues seriously and resolve them at the earliest,” Satish told a private news channel.

The Jarkiholi brothers of Belagavi are said to be upset with the party for not heeding to their demands, which includes giving state Congress president’s post to Satish and preventing Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar from interfering in Belagavi district politics. The brothers are learnt to have threatened to quit the party if their demands are not fulfilled.

Though Satish said that there was no threat to the coalition government, he said more than 12 party MLAs are with his brother and Municipalities Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi. “Many MLAs are in touch with Ramesh. They are together for the past few weeks,” Satish said, but denied reports that the BJP has been wooing him and his brother.

Asked whether the problem is because of Shivakumar, he said there has been a problem in the Belagavi Congress ever since the formation of the coalition government. Problems are with respect to the transfer of certain officials and nominations to some government-controlled agencies.

The Jarkiholi brothers recently faced a setback in the elections to Belagavi Primary Land Development Bank. Their bete noire and party MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who has the backing of Shivakumar and some Lingayat leaders in the district, emerged victories in the elections.

Meanwhile, Ramesh told reporters that all issues have been sorted out within the party and that there is no threat to the government. He was speaking after holding a closed-door meeting with KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara. Ramesh also said that he was not aware of what Satish had spoken in this regard.

My govt is stable: Kumaraswamy

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy reiterated that his government is stable and can't be felled easily by opposition BJP.

He replied to reporters at Mandya, on Tuesday, when scribes drew his attention to the statements by Municipalities Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi.

It maybe recalled that Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and his brother MLA Sathish Jarkiholi had stated that they would take a decision on quitting Congress, after former chief minister Siddaramaiah returns from his foreign tour.

“Who told you that Congress and JD(S) MLAs will resign? Shall I make five BJP MLAs to resign? I don’t know how the media gets such false news. How does the media assume that Congress and JD(S) MLAs will join the BJP?” Kumaraswamy sought to know.