Bengaluru, Sep 12: Karnataka State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao has refuted reports that Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and other MLAs are quitting Congress-JD(S) coalition as protest and joining BJP.

Claiming to be on touch with the MLAs whose names are being flashed on the media, he blamed BJP for trying to create a rift. “There are around 8 MLAs who are ready to join the coalition alliance, but we are not indulging in unethical practices. However, if BJP continues we cannot maintain silence,” Rao told media.

State Home Minister G Parameshwara maintained that the coalition government is stable and said the reports are mere speculations.

Belagavi’s Jarkiholi brothers were supposedly upset with Energy Minister D K Shivakumar’s interference in Belagavi politics, especially after Mahila Congress president Lakshmi Hebbalkar who is supported by Shivakumar attempted to gain control of the Primary Land Development bank in Belagavi.

When Satish Jarkiholi on Tuesday hinted that anything can happen in the next fortnight, people started speculating that there will be a revolt within Congress. However, Ramesh Jarkiholi who met Dinesh Gundu Rao and G Parameshwar on Tuesday, told media that the issues have been addressed. “Don’t pay heed to false information. I am not going anywhere,” Ramesh Jarkiholi told media on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy too on Tuesday dismissed the ‘revolt’ rumours as media creation.