Congress leader Venugopal arrived Karnataka, held meeting with senior leaders

Amid continuing disgruntlement among miffed Congress ministerial aspirants, party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal arrived here and took stock of the situation Tuesday. He held a meeting with senior leaders, including state Congress President Dinesh Gundurao and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, and discussed the developments.

"Venugopal convened a meeting and took stock of the situation, regarding portfolios to be allocated to new ministers and discontentment among senior Congress MLAs who were denied ministerial berths during latest cabinet expansion," a party the spokesperson told PTI. The meeting was also attended by among others Satish Jarkiholi, newly inducted minister and brother of Ramesh Jarkiholi who is upset at being dropped from the ministry. Venugopal is expected to hold another round of talks with senior Congress leaders including Chairman of the coordination committee of Congress-JDS Siddaramaiah Wednesday, the spokesperson said.

The induction of eight members from Congress on Saturday in the H D Kumaraswamy cabinet was marked by rumblings of dissidence as several senior Congress MLAs was upset over their exclusion, with legislators including Ramalinga Reddy, BC Patil, B K Sangamesh and Bheema Naik, coming out openly to give vent to their anger. supporters of Reddy staged a protest Tuesday, demanding his induction as the minister.

Earlier in the day, Reddy met Siddaramaiah and held deliberations on the issue. Later speaking to media, Reddy said sought to distance himself from the protests, saying he did not have control over those protesting but denied media reports of joining BJP.

He also dismissed reports that BJP leaders trying to get in touch with him. Except for Yelahanka MLA Vishvanath, who had visited his house to invite him to attend his son's wedding, no other BJP member met him, Reddy added. On Monday, a sulking Ramesh Jarkiholi had indicated his plans to quit as party MLA and had said he would make his decision public in four days.