“The demand to create additional Deputy Chief Minister posts is not aimed at annoying our leaders like Chief Minister Siddaramaiah or Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. They are our senior leaders and they are functioning well,” Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi said in Bagalkot on Wednesday.
He said that he is in favour of creating additional Deputy Chief Minister posts and the move should not be seen as political but for administrative purposes.
He said that though he is not an aspirant for the post of Deputy Chief Minister, he will accept the post if it is offered to him.
“The party high command will take a decision on creating additional Deputy Chief Minister posts,” he said.
He said that the Congress is working towards the aim of winning 20 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
He said that the Congress will admit leaders from other parties if they believe in the party’s ideology of universal welfare and inclusive development. Such people should approach the district Congress committee first. The high command will take a decision later, he said.
Mr. Jarkiholi said that he will welcome the move to provide reservation to women in legislative houses. “However, we should not forget the fact that it was the Congress-led UPA government that initiated the move,” he said.
He said that he was not surprised by the announcement of a pre-poll alliance between the Janata Dal(S) and the BJP. “Leaders of those two parties were secretly meeting each other in the past. Now, they are meeting openly. It is not new,” he said.
