A stand-off between powerful “sugar lobbies” within the Congress on capturing the top posts of the Belagavi Taluk Primary, Cooperative, Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (earlier known as Primary Land Development Bank), which are politically inconsequential, had to be resolved with the intervention of the party central leadership. Though it is peace at the moment, it remains to be seen how long it would last.
The elections to the post of the president and the vice-president of the bank had turned into a clash between the mighty Jarkiholi brothers and first-time MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, with both sides keen to get their loyalists to the top posts. The Congress leadership had to interven e to ensure unanimous election. With the State Congress women’s wing president Ms. Hebbalkar appearing to have got an upper hand for the moment, the party is in a fix as how to placate the the Jarkiholi brothers, who have threatened to take “radical decision” in the coming days.
Sensing damage to the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the party leadership deployed KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre to hold talks with both the factions for ensuring unanimous election. However, no one knows when the simmering discontent would blow up again, sources in the party said.
The Congress won eight seats against 10 by the BJP in Belagavi district in the 2018 Assembly elections.
The rift between Ms. Hebbalkar and the Jarkiholi brothers intensified and became public after Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar reportedly supported Ms. Hebbalkar during a meeting with AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal last week. Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi’s diktat to Mr. Shivakumar not to interfere in the Belagavi district unit of the party further widened the gulf.
Sources also said Mr. Shivakumar, who camped in Delhi for the last two days, put pressure on the party central leadership to ensure unanimous election of Ms. Hebbalkar’s candidates.
While Satish Jarkiholi is reportedly miffed with the party for not being inducted into the Cabinet, his brother Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi is unhappy with the “low-profile” Municipal Administration portfolio, sources said.
Not the first time
This is not the first instance of the party central leadership stepping in to resolve issues. During the Cabinet expansion, the party’s top brass interfered and pacified several leaders who had been denied Cabinet berth. In fact, all new proposed policies and posts in the State are being vetted by the party central leadership.
Published - September 08, 2018 12:36 am IST
