Congress asks Siddaramaiah to end crisis as he returns

State Congress leaders made a beeline to meet their party's 'crisis manager' Siddaramaiah, who returned to Bengaluru in the wee hours of Sunday, from a 12-day Europe sojourn.

Congress leaders including AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in charge, K C Venugopal, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, party's working president Eshwar Khandre and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara met Siddaramaiah at his official residence Cauvery, to take stock of the Belagavi impasse.

Venugopal is learnt to have told Siddaramaiah to speak to the Jarkiholi brothers and resolve the crisis, which is now hanging like Damocles' sword, over the coalition government.

The party fears that the Jarkiholi brothers, who are close associates of Siddaramaiah, have been in touch with the BJP, which is desperately trying to regain power in the state.

Municipalities Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and former minister Satish Jarkiholi, have threatened to raise a banner of revolt following their feud with party MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar and Water Resource Minister D K Shivakumar.

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Amidst speculation that the Jarkiholi brothers (who have made several demands) might defect to the BJP with a few MLAs, the duo have maintained that they would not pose a threat to the government.

During the meeting, Siddaramaiah is learnt to have taken exception to his name being dragged into the Belagavi politics. Rumours are rife that Siddaramaiah covertly supported dissident activities.

Sources, however, said he is expected to hold parleys with the Jarkiholi brothers soon.

Congress leaders decided to seek an appointment with their party chief Rahul Gandhi, to finalise issues pertaining to the cabinet expansion, nominations and bypolls to the Legislative Council and mayoral polls.

'Coalition govt safe'

Speaking to reporters later, Venugopal said that the Belagavi deadlock was no more a problem as state leaders had resolved it.

"The Jarkiholi brothers aren't posing problems. It is a district issue - the state leaders have resolved it. There maybe some differences. But this will not affect the government. There is no threat to the government - it is 100% safe. The BJP is playing games. It is trying to topple government with black money. But we trust our MLAs," he added.

Seconding Venugopal, Rao too, said that the government was "stable".
Defending Siddaramaiah, Rao said that it was unfair to blame former chief minister for the recent political developments.

"Siddaramaiah's name is unnecessarily being dragged into Belagavi politics. He's not trying to destabilise the government - neither are the Jarkiholi brothers. The government is stable, as all Congress MLAs are united. Even the Ballari MLAs are with us," he said.

Rao also said that only a section of BJP leaders were trying to destabilise the government.

"It's only the Yeddyurappa camp which is trying to topple the government. The other BJP leaders have no such intentions. They are in fact upset with Yeddyurappa," he added.