Karnataka minister threatens to quit

Karnataka Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi has threatened quit his ministership as well as the membership of the state assembly if justice is not done to Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli. Jarkiholi and Kumathalli were among the 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs who brought down the coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy in July 2019 and helped install the BJP government with full majority in the state. The rebels had claimed that they were promised ministerial berths by the BJP leadership but Kumathalli was not accommodated despite winning the bypolls in December 2019 from the Athani constituency. Since then, he has been sulking and constantly reminding the BJP of its "Vachana Dharma".