Congress in Karnataka Wednesday stepped up efforts to quell the internal discontent triggered by a faction of MLAs led by minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is locked in a turf war with another minister D K Shivakumar, casting a shadow over its coalition government with the JDS.
Ramesh and his brother Satish Jarkiholi whose dissident activities have caused trouble to the three-month old Congress-JDS coalition, have camped in Bengaluru meeting senior party leaders.
The leaders include state congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Jarkiholi brothers are upset over Shivakumar allegedly trying to challenge their supremacy in Belagavi district through MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar.
The siblings were made to accept the candidates of the Hebbalkar camp in the recent Primary Land Development Bank's elections, which has reportedly infuriated them more.
The internal tussle has spilled into the open with the Jarkiholi brothers assertion about the support of eight MLAs and that they were in touch with the BJP fuelling speculation about the stability of the H D Kumaraswamy government.
"We do have our own faction and factionalism is found across all the parties. Our faction is of like-minded people. Factionalism existed before and will continue to remain in future too," Satish Jarkiholi told reporters here.
He also said, "we were always with the party and we are not dissidents. However, our group is of seven-eight MLAs and we will remain together.
We have faith that seniors will resolve the issues. I met Dinesh Gundu Rao to discuss how to stop this because suchnegative coverage in the media damages the party. Rao hassought two days' time to discuss the matter," he said.
He clarified that he had not discussed the issue with congress general secretary, Karnataka-incharge, K C Venugopal.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, the municipal administration minister, ruled out the possibility of quitting Congress.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "There is no question of my quitting the party.I am very much in Congress.
I met Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a father figure to me. I explained the situation to him. I have full faith in our seniors who will set things right."
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