HDK asks Rahul Gandhi to step in, quell Congress rebellion
Mr Kumaraswamy, who was in Delhi to attend a Niti Ayog meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bengaluru: With disgruntled Congress legislators continuing to embarrass the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka over Cabinet berths, chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has appealed to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to step in and quell the rebellion in his party.
Mr Kumaraswamy, who was in Delhi to attend a Niti Ayog meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stayed back to meet Mr Gandhi and discuss the current political situation in the state with him, according to party sources .
He is reported to have told him that the coalition government that came to power over a month ago, was yet to take off due to an open rebellion by a section of legislators de-manding Cabinet berths, and barring a couple of ministers like deputy CM G. Parameshwar, who was in charge of Bengaluru Development, a majority had still not got around to doing their job.
Observing that senior leaders like M.B. Patil, H.K. Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, and Dr Sudhakar were openly rebelling, putting the coalition government in an awkward position, he is said to have noted that his intervention was not welcomed when he tried to pacify one of them.
Sources said Mr Kumar-aswamy had also lamented former CM Siddaramaiah’s stand against tabling a new Budget when it was a tradition to present a new Budget whenever a new government came to power.
Maintaining that pressure was mounting on JD(S) leaders to show the Congress “its place”, he advised Mr Gandhi to go in for another Cabinet expansion soon, sources revealed.