Belagavi: President of the State Women’s Congress Cell Laxmi Hebbalkar is upset over allotment of a cabinet berth to MLC Jayamala. Asserting that she was the senior most of all four women MLAs of the Congress and expected the party to induct her into the cabinet, she said she was perplexed over the yardstick which party leaders adopted to allot cabinet berths. Speaking to reporters in Belagavi, she said, she would never demand a cabinet berth but had expected it this time as the situation was in her favour. Over the past several years, she had toiled for the party's growth in the state besides working all across Karnataka to build the party as president of the State Women's Congress Cell. With the situation in my favour, I expected a cabinet berth under the woman's quota. But surprisingly the party decided to induct Jayamala, who is an MLC,'' she added. Stating that the Congress helped her grow as a leader and politician in the course of several years, Laxmi said she too worked for the party and travelled a
cross the state to bolster it. After losing the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections from Belagavi, Hebbalkar had managed to get a party ticket from Belagavi Rural constituency this time and won by a huge margin of 50,000 votes. She is the first Congress MLA from Belagavi Rural which was a stronghold of the BJP and Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti till now. Due to the work which she took up in the constituency, she was able to defeat her rivals comfortably.
