Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi along with senior advocates and MLAs from North Karnataka during his visit to the Supreme Court Bar Association and Delhi High Court Bar Association buildings at New Delhi on February 20 , 2026.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister now and we believe that he will continue, said Satish Jarkiholi, PWD minister and KPCC working president, in Bagalkot on Sunday (February 22, 2026). “We have not heard anything about mid-term changes. The rest is left to the party high command,” he said adding that he had no idea about changes to the State leadership after the budget.
Mr. Jarkiholi was in Bagalkot to attend the wedding in the family of a follower.
He told reporters that his recent trip to Delhi was not to rally support for Mr. Siddaramaiah or any other leader. “For me, Delhi visits are common. I keep going once a month or so regarding my department work. And whenever I go, I visit the AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. We urged him to end the confusion in the party and he has assured to do so,” he said.
“This time, however, former minister K.N. Rajanna had also come to Delhi for some other errand and we went to meet Mr. Kharge together,’’ he said in response to a query.
He said the foreign tour of legislators was not linked to any political development. “Foreign tours are common for legislators. They keep going on trips with their friends. It can not be linked to politics,” he said.
Not in support of a leader
Later, in Ambadgatti in Belagavi district, Mr. Jarkiholi clarified that his recent trip to New Delhi was not in support of any particular leader.
“It was in support of the party. A few Congress leaders met AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi recently to request the party high command to end the confusion over the leadership issue in Karnataka. We have got a clear signal from Mr. Kharge that the issue will be resolved. We do not know how it will be resolved. But it will surely be resolved soon,” he said.
“We have told our senior leaders to end the confusion as it could damage the party’s prospects in the coming elections. We have expressed this in the past, too. Mr. Kharge listened to us patiently and ensured us that the confusion would be cleared soon,” the KPCC working president said.
To a query, he said that the trip was not in support of CM Siddaramaiah or DCM D.K. Shivakumar or any other leader. He also denied it as baseless speculation.
Meanwhile, one of the leaders who accompanied him, said that the delegation included around 5-6 legislators. The other group that accompanied the PWD minister to New Delhi included presidents of 10-12 district Bar Associations from the State. They visited the Advocates’ Chambers and Recreation Centre in the Supreme Court and other newly built court premises in the national capital. Their visit was unrelated to the party work, a local leader said.
Published – February 22, 2026 05:37 pm IST
