Karnataka row ends as missing Cong MLAs resurface

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government of Karnataka received a boost when four rebel Congress legislators returned from around a month’s absence and attended the budget session of the assembly on Wednesday and an Independent MLA who had withdrawn support to the coalition sought to come back to its fold.

In the standoff between the rebels and senior Congress leaders, the former blinked first, appearing in the assembly despite informing Congress Legislature Party (CLP) chief Siddaramaiah that they would not do so.

The Congress had submitted a complaint to speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Monday to initiate action against the four – Ramesh Jarkiholi, Umesh Jadhav, B Nagendra and Mahesh Kumathahalli – after they had refused to attend two CLP meetings, and failed to present themselves in front of Siddaramaiah to explain their absence. The four had also not attended the first few days of the session, which began on February 6, despite the Congress issuing a whip to this effect. The final nail was their absence at a CLP meeting on Friday, hours before the state budget was presented by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.Jarkiholi said he was in Mumbai all these days because he was preparing for his daughter’s wedding, set for February 24. “It is true that we are disgruntled. But we have not indulged in any anti-party activities and we have not challenged the high command,” he said at a press conference. The prolonged absence of the four legislators had triggered speculation that they may be preparing to switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We have many friends in the BJP… All of us politicians are friends, not enemies. Only when it is a question of party we fight but we are friends otherwise,” Jarkiholi said when asked about leaked photos showing the MLAs with BJP leaders.

His colleague Nagendra said their anger stemmed from some issues over their constituencies. “We are all together. It is true that we are disgruntled… but who said I will leave the party? Definitely, we will be with the party. I have been going to Mumbai for business and other activities. We were not there together, we went there separately,” he said. Siddaramaiah said the party could not do anything now about the disqualification complaint as it was already with the speaker. “The speaker has to decide as the complaint has already been submitted to him. We will argue about why we think they should be disqualified and they will argue about why they should not be. Let’s see what decision the speaker takes,” he told HT.

INDEPENDENT MLA, H NAGESH, WHO HAD WITHDRAWN SUPPORT FROM THE COALITION, LATER SAID HE WANTED TO BACK GOVT AGAIN