Senior Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi, who is upset at not being made a Minister, will seek relief from his party responsibilities by resigning as the AICC secretary in charge of Telangana.
He has, however, not yet decided on quitting his membership of the State legislature. He won the Yamakanamaradi seat, that he has represented for 10 years, with a slender margin of 2,850 votes.
He told presspersons at the Sambra airport where he arrived from Bengaluru that he would resign from the AICC secretary’s post in two days. “When I am unable to be a Minister nor am powerful enough to help my followers become Ministers, what is the use of being a secretary of the AICC?,’’ he wondered. “There are many leaders in Karnataka who have the potential to be the Chief Minister. I am one among them. Vested interests in the party have kept us out of the Cabinet to make sure that we don’t grow. I am a leader with enough influence to make other MLAs as Ministers. But if I don’t become a Minister, what does it mean? It has affected my self-esteem,” said the otherwise reticent leader.
“I have already spoken to senior leaders like M.B. Patil who have been left out of the Cabinet. All the Congress MLAs who are unhappy with the Cabinet formation will meet in Bengaluru on June 11. We will take a decision on our next political move,” he said.
Mr. Satish Jarkiholi also said that he had some idea about the persons who were behind the party’s decision to drop him. “My name was in the list of Ministers till the morning of the swearing-in. But it was changed later. I will reveal the names of the leaders who lobbied against me in Bengaluru and New Delhi in two days,” he added.
AICC president Rahul Gandhi appointed him the AICC secretary in charge of Telangana, after his elder brother Ramesh Jarkiholi replaced him in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet two years ago. Mr. Satish seemed to have reluctantly accepted the post and made a few trips to Telangana on party work.