Amid talk of defection to JDS, CM Ibrahim meets Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: In what appears to be some good news for the Congress, party MLC CM Ibrahim on Friday met former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the latter’s residence in the city.This meeting assumes significance as Ibrahim had met JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda, along with H D Kumaraswamy, in January, setting off alarm bells in the Congress camp. Kumaraswamy -- who is aiming at increasing JDS’ minority vote share -- had met Ibrahim, after which they had visited Gowda.

Ending his self-imposed exile, Ibrahim personally drove down to Siddaramaiah’s residence and spent a good amount of time before the Legislature session on Friday morning. In a bid to retain Ibrahim in the Congress, Siddaramaiah and party General Secretary and state in-charge Randeep Surjewala had met the MLC last month. Surjewala had assured Ibrahim that he would convey his concerns to the high command. Ibrahim is likely to meet the Congress central leadership soon.

The Congress’ concern was understandable because without senior minority leaders like late Jaffer Sharief and Roshan Baig -- who quit the party -- the Grand Old Party was left with only second-rung leaders. Losing Ibrahim would have impacted the party, considering it is already facing a tough battle in retaining its minority vote base, especially with the arrival of SDPI and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen. 
While some say the issue has blown over, others are skeptical as the JDS is not a party that gives up easily, and could make a renewed bid to get Ibrahim into the party fold. Ibrahim was not available for his response.