The Congress in Karnataka went into damage control mode after disgruntled party members held a meeting after they were not given cabinet berths in the newly formed government
"It is obvious that the senior leaders were hurt. Congress party has kept all options open to fill the vacancies and it will be done soon. I have belief in party high command. We have to build confidence among party workers," said DK Shivakumar, senior Congress member.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said, "Yes, there is some tension there, but I am confident that the Congress leaders will take the right decision."
Earlier, upset over not securing berths in the expanded H D Kumaraswamy ministry, several Congress MLAs in Karnataka today held separate meetings in the city.
The meetings were held a day after the 15-day old two-member JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded with the induction of 25 new ministers after intense bargaining for ministerial berths.
The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests.
The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including M B Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, H K Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappaand Satish Jarkhiholi.
Emerging out of the meeting, Jarkiholi, who is also an AICC secretary, said they discussed about the cabinet expansion and it was true that they were "unhappy" over not getting Ministership.
"We have discussed about how to set it right by bringing it to the notice of state and Delhi party leadership about capable and efficient aspirants. We have discussed this yesterday also.. today also we discussed and we will meet again," he said.
However, trying to downplay the significance of the development, M B Patil blamed the media for creating "a hype" about his meeting with party colleagues and asked, "what is wrong with it?"
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