Satish Jarkiholi to quit as AICC secretary, more resignations on the way?

Belagavi: After hectic meetings with disgruntled MLAs of the party for the last two days, AICC Secretary, Satish Jarkiholi , who arrived in Belagavi from Bengaluru Friday afternoon, announced that he would resign from his post in a couple of days. And in an indication that there was bigger trouble ahead for the coalition government , he said all disgruntled MLAs of the Congress, who had met several times in Bengaluru over the last few days , would hold one final meeting on June 11 to take a “big decision,” implying that they too may resign from both the assembly and party the same day. Explaining his decision, Mr Jarkiholi, who was speaking to reporters on his arrival at Belagavi airpot, said there was no point in holding on to a top position in the AICC if he could not take any decisions in the party. “Being the AICC Secretary, I have not been able to become Minister or help any of my supporters become Ministers either. So I don't want to continue as Secretary anymore. The party should have given some i
mportance to the post given to me. I intend to hold a meeting of my supporters and associates in Belagavi over the fresh political developments in the state and announce my decision to quit as AICC Secretary,” he added. Mr Jarkiholi said he was aware that leaders in Bengaluru and New Delhi had worked against him and would disclose their names in three days. Going by party sources, several top leaders, who lost the recent assembly poll, like Ashok Pattan, Feroz Sait, Anand Chopra, D.B. Inamdar and Pradip Malgi had shot off a letter to the high command against a Cabinet berth for the AICC Secretary, blaming him for their defeat . “These leaders wrote to Congress president, Rahul Gandhi threatening to quit the party en mass if Mr Jarkiholi was inducted into the Cabinet. Taking their plea seriously, he was dropped at the last moment, although the high command wanted him in the Cabinet,” sources added.