Cong MLAs behaved like pawns in hands of DKShi: Ramesh Jarkiholi

Hubli: Disqualified legislator and the BJP candidate for Gokak assembly seat, Ramesh Jarkiholi said that he decided to topple the previous JD(S)-Congress coalition government after he saw Congress MLA behaving like pawns in the hands of former minister DK Shivakumar.

Addressing a large gathering of his supporters and BJP workers, “When I went to the Bidadi resort with Shankar on May 17 last year, I was irritated by the strange atmosphere there. I was saddened, I felt the MLAs were being used as political pawns by Shivakumar.”

He also revealed that he had met Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa at that time to chalk out the strategy to topple the government adding that BJP president Amit Shah had given the green signal for this after he met him in Hyderabad.

“Siddaramaiah was totally sidelined when the coalition government was formed last year,” he added.

Meanwhile, former minister Satish Jarkiholi called his brother Ramesh an opportunist and said the people of Gokak would teach him a lesson in the bypolls.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Satish said, “Ramesh keeps changing his political gurus. In the past, he had called S M Krishna his guru. Now, he’s calling H Vishwanath his guru. The poll bugle has been sounded. We have been campaigning for the past few months with the sole intention of defeating Ramesh.”

He further informed, “Lakhan will file his nomination as Congress candidate on Nov 18.