Bengaluru, Feb 1 (IANS): Senior Congress leader B.R. Patil, representing the Aland seat in Kalaburagi district, resigned from his position as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Political Advisor on Saturday, bringing the infighting within the ruling Congress party in Karnataka to the forefront. MLA Patil is a close associate of Siddaramaiah.

Sources confirmed that Patil sent his resignation letter to Siddaramaiah’s office via fax on Friday evening.

MLA B.R. Patil was an aspirant for a Cabinet berth and openly expressed his displeasure over not being included. He also criticised the Congress-led government for the non-allocation of funds to MLAs.

Being close to Siddaramaiah, Patil also received the ticket to contest the Aland seat against BJP heavyweight Malikayya Guttedar.

Patil had expressed dissatisfaction with Minister for RDPR, IT, and BT, Priyank Kharge, as well as Minister for Revenue Krishna Byre Gowda. He had also stated that he would submit his resignation letter to Siddaramaiah.

Despite being a close associate of Siddaramaiah, Patil was not accommodated in the Cabinet, as Ministers Priyank Kharge and Sharan Prakash Patil had to be included from Kalaburagi district as per the wishes of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, sources said.

Siddaramaiah is already concerned about the High Court reserving judgment on the issue of handing over the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case. At the same time, the Congress high command has expressed displeasure over ministers aligned with Siddaramaiah, who are forming a camp under the leadership of Minister for PWD, Satish Jarkiholi.

Patil has yet to officially respond regarding his decision to resign from his post.

In a purported video before the Lok Sabha elections, he was heard stating that, in order to consolidate Hindu votes, the BJP would carry out a false flag operation and bomb the Ram Mandir, then blame the attack on Muslims.