Former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday presided over a major gathering of AHINDA (Alpasankhyataru, Hindulidavaru and Dalitaru) leaders in Bengaluru . Three key AHINDA leaders, however, were not present at the event. Speaking to reporters on Monday, they sought to downplay their absence.
Public works minister Satish Jarkiholi, housing minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and former minister HC Mahadevappa, all prominent figures associated with the AHINDA movement, were absent from the silver jubilee celebrations of the Karnataka State Backward Castes Federation at Palace Grounds.
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Jarkiholi’s absence ahead of Congress prep for 2028 polls
Jarkiholi confirmed he was not invited. “I was not invited, so I did not go. This is not a serious issue. AHINDA is not anyone’s property. Anyone can claim the AHINDA identity,” he said.
Their absence, particularly Jarkiholi’s, comes as the Congress prepares for the political contest that will precede the 2028 Assembly elections.
Jarkiholi has emerged as an important backward class voice in his own right. Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah had earlier projected him as a future leader, while Jarkiholi has openly expressed his aspiration to become Chief Minister in 2028.
Siddaramaiah used the gathering to call for the demand for 75% reservation for Dalits, backward classes and minorities in government jobs and the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to be intensified.
The 78-year-old leader also announced that he would not contest the 2028 Assembly elections “The electoral system has become very expensive and has deteriorated. I have also grown old,” Siddaramaiah said.
Shivakumar separately sought to claim AHINDA as part of the Congress’s political identity. “AHINDA is ours. Congress ideology is AHINDA ideology. The Congress will continue to uphold its ideology towards the backward classes,” he said.