Karnataka Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi threatens to resign if injustice done to Mahesh Kumathalli
Bengaluru: Karnataka Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi on Saturday threatened to resign as minister as well as the member of the Assembly if injustice is meted out to his confidant-Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli.
Jarkiholi and Kumathalli were among the 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs who brought down the coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy in July 2019 and helped install the BJP government with full majority in the state.
The rebels had claimed that they were promised ministerial berths by the BJP leadership but Kumathalli was not accommodated despite winning the bypolls in December 2019 from Athani constituency.
Since then, he has been sulking and constantly reminding the BJP of its 'Vachana Dharma.'
"Certain things cannot be said openly. Mahesh Kumathalli was mainly responsible for the formation of the BJP government in the state. He may get a good post. We will not let injustice happen to him," Jarkiholi told reporters in Belagavi.
When journalists reminded Jarkiholi of Kumathalli's statement that the team responsible for bringing down the coalition government has left him in lurch, Jarkiholi said, "He has not said yet. The moment he says I will resign as MLA.
I will resign as minister also. Let him come out and say once.
It's not possible."
Meanwhile, Kumathalli said he was no longer discontented.
"No injustice has happened to me. The irrigation facility in our area has improved and we are quite content," he added.
He also said the projects that were pending for decades have now been taken up.
To a question on the denial of ministerial berth which he had been yearning for, Kumathalli said, "When the time comes, I will become a minister."
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
