As 14 constituencies in North Karnataka went to polls on Tuesday, Congress MLA from Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi said that he would soon announce his decision on whether he will quit the party.
Speaking to the media in Belagavi after casting his vote, Ramesh Jarkiholi said that he would make his decision at the right moment in the coming days.
“I am not someone who will sit in the dark and throw stones. I am technically with the Congress. In the coming days, I will announce my decision when the time is right,” Ramesh Jarkiholi said.
Last week, Ramesh Jarkiholi’s brother, the Karnataka Minister of Environment and Forests – Satish Jarkiholi had announced that Ramesh had refused to go back on his decision to quit the Congress. Satish had also stated that the youngest of the Jarkiholi brothers, Lakhan would be fielded from the Gokak segment as the Congress candidate when Ramesh quits the party.
“I am happy to support Lakhan if he decides to contest from Gokak. I am a responsible person and I have been in politics for many years. When Umesh Katti was refused the ticket from Chikkodi by the BJP, BS Yeddyurappa had met Umesh Katti and sorted out the issue within a matter of hours. The Congress has not approached me at all,” Ramesh said.
He also took a dig at his brother by stating that Satish is an outsider to the Congress as he had defected from the JD(S). “He (Satish) came from another party and is troubling me now. I am a five-time MLA and I speak responsibly when I say this,” he added.
Ramesh Jarkiholi’s statement comes just hours after BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa said that the BJP will form a government in Karnataka after the Lok Sabha polls.
“I am confident of the BJP winning more than 22 seats this time. We will definitely form the government in Karnataka after the elections,” Yeddyurappa told the media in Shikaripur on Tuesday morning.
Speculation is rife in Karnataka’s political circles that the BJP has been in talks with Congress MLAs, who are thinking of defecting to the BJP. The BJP had lured former Congress MLA from Chincholi, Umesh Jadav into its fold by offering him a ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls against Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalaburgi. With Ramesh Jarkiholi’s possible defection, his detractors in Ballari are likely to join him, sources in the Congress say.