Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 30: Former ministers, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Roshan Baig, were conspicuous by their absence at the Congress legislature party (CLP) meeting held on Wednesday May 29. They dropped clear hints at being at loggerheads with the leadership of the party and that they may be changing their allegiance to the BJP.

CLP leader, Siddaramaiah, however remained optimistic and said that there is no need to conclude that the two were angry with the leaders. He asserted that the two leaders will not leave their party.

Ramesh has often expressed his grouse at the government by remaining away from election campaign and skipping meetings when he was a minister. Baig had recently unleashed angry outbursts against the party leadership, accusing them of not giving enough recognition to Muslims and neglecting senior, experienced leaders.

Ramesh Jarkiholi and Roshan Baig

Siddaramaiah stated that out of 79 members of the CLP, 72 were present at the meeting. The meeting was basically meant to consider the poor performance of the party in Lok Sabha election. It may be recalled that the Congress won only one of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Commenting on absentees, Siddaramaiah explained that Ramalinga Reddy is out of the country, Byrathi Basavaraj is sick, while people like Rahim Khan, Rajashekhar Patil and S N Subbareddy are involved with election to local bodies.

It is gathered that K C Venugopal, general secretary of All India Congress Committee in charge of Karnataka, sought explanation from party legislators as to why the Congress-JD(S) alliance failed miserably in their respective constituencies.

The meeting took a decision to prevail upon Rahul Gandhi to remain as the party's national president. Siddaramaiah explained that Rahul Gandhi alone cannot be blamed for the party's debacle, and everyone is responsible. He said that his leadership is necessary for the country, and Congress was supported by over 12.5 crore voters in the election. He reminded that the party had built itself into eminent position in the past after facing setbacks.