The JD(S)-Congress coalition in Karnataka is once again walking the tight rope as Congress rebel and Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi announced his decision to quit the party. His brother and forest minister in the H.D. Kumaraswamy cabinet, Satish Jarkiholi, was quick to criticise his brother even as he demanded the party to initiate disciplinary action against Ramesh.
"I have made up my mind to quit the Congress party, but will take the final call at an appropriate time,” said Ramesh, soon after casting his vote in Gokak on Tuesday.
The growing animosity between the Jarkiholi brothers after Ramesh was dropped from the cabinet to accommodate Satish has kept the coalition on tenterhooks. Besides, speculation over the BJP luring the rebels has put the Congress in a tight spot. The BJP's open claim that at least 20 rebel MLAs are ready to join the saffron party has created much confusion among the coalition partners.
Ramesh alleged that the Congress was a divided house and factionalism has reached its peak. He also claimed that he was sidelined, and despite him expressing his dissent, no senior leader reached out to him to sort out the issues. "I am unhappy, but will not remain silent as I am a frank man. I don't intend to sit in darkness forever. I am technically still with the Congress party. But I have made up my mind to quit,” said Ramesh, who hailed the BJP for its style of handling its disgruntled members.
"When BJP's Ramesh Katti, a strong contender for the Chikodi seat, was upset after being denied the party ticket, senior leader Yeddyurappa rushed to pacify him and Katti was back to campaigning for the party candidate. But you cannot expect anything like that in the Congress as it is a divided house. The grand old party had everything going well till 1999. But later, groupism ruined it," said Ramesh, who also charged that his brother was "crazy" to speak against him.
"I am in a responsible position and will not make loose talk," said Ramesh, who was visibly upset with Satish for claiming that their younger brother Lakhan would contest from Gokak if Ramesh quits the party.
"I will be the most happy person if Lakhan becomes an MLA. But let him decide his constituency and the party to contest from. Satish has ruined one brother and is now at it again," said Ramesh.
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A furious Satish Jarkiholi charged that Ramesh was not consistent as a person. "He speaks one thing in the morning and another at night. Now, if he has already made a decision, he should implement it,” he said, adding that such a move would be beneficial to partyworkers who are in a state of confusion.
Defending the party, Satish said the Congress always rewarded the honest and the hardworking, but Ramesh has never held a Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting, and was away from Gokak for months. "Even when he is in town, he does not take our calls or meet any of us. At one time, all our party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and K.C. Venugopal were looking for him as he was not accessible," said Satish, slamming his brother for creating trouble for the party time and again.
Hinting that Ramesh was already in the BJP fold, as reports of him canvassing for the BJP's Chikodi candidate Annasaheb Jolle became public, Satish said, "Ramesh claims to be in Congress during the day, but campaigns for the BJP at night. Hope he remains loyal to BJP once he jumps the ship. He should not set his tail on fire and burn down the Lanka."
Interestingly, Satish attributed the indecisiveness and rebellion of his brother to a relative brainwashing him. "Ramesh is brainwashed into joining the BJP by Ambirao Patil (Ramesh's brother-in-law), who is the mastermind behind this crisis. Ambirao is with the BJP and is the de facto MLA of Gokak and controls the constituency," alleged Satish.
KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao went into damage control mode and alleged that the Centre was misusing the agencies to intimidate the opposition parties. "On May 23, you will see a new government at the Centre. When the Congress party is in power, we will not allow misuse of Central agencies. In case of Ramesh Jarkiholi, we have tried to pacify him several times. But he has again threatened to quit the party. He is free to take a call on that,” said Rao.
For now, the war of words between the Jarkiholi brothers has sure given jitters to the coalition partners. But if the crisis worsens to affect the coalition remains to be seen.
