As loyalists of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah continued to demonstrate their strength ahead of the first legislature session of the coalition government next week, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal will arrive in Bengaluru on Thursday to settle differences between Congress leaders and ensure that they stop rocking the boat.
On Wednesday, in the latest turn of events, a team of Congress MLAs led by Municipality and Local Bodies Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi called on Mr. Siddaramaiah at Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Yoga and Nature Care Hospital in Dharmasthala where he is undergoing treatment. Though it was described as a “cordial” meeting, according to sources, Mr. Jarkiholi and eight MLAs came in a special aircraft to Mangaluru to meet their leader and held discussions on the functioning of the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Shivananda Patil, Basavakalyan MLA B. Narayan Rao, and former Ministers T.B. Jayachandra and H. Anjaneya also called on the former Chief Minister. Mr. Shivananda Patil said: “We have come here to check on him. There is no politics in this visit.”