Kalaburagi: Estranged Congress MLA from Chincholi Dr Umesh Jadhav, who skipped Friday’s crucial Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, has ‘almost decided’ to sever his ties with the Congress party and throw his weight behind the BJP so that he can contest the coming Lok Sabha election.
In view of the conciliatory measures initiated by the Working President of KPCC Eshwar Khandre a couple of days back, there was hope that Dr Jadhav would reverse his decision to quit the Congress and attend the CLP meeting. “Mr Khandre had assured him that his self-respect and political career will be taken care of if he returned to the Congress and Dr Jadhav had positively responded to the call. Dr Jadhav had in fact reached Hyderabad from Mumbai with a view to attend the CLP meeting. But he changed his mind and went back again. Though Mr Khandre tried to contact him, he was not accessible,” said sources.
The deep rooted fear that his political career will not be safeguarded in the Congress where Mallikarjun Kharge has been the supreme leader in so far as the Hyderabad-Karnataka region is concerned, has prompted him to firm up his mind to severe his ties with the Congress. “Dr Jadhav, who is tipped to be the BJP candidate for the Kalaburagi Lok Sabha seat against Mr Kharge, has been in camping in Mumbai for over a week now along with some dissident Congress MLAs.
