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Updated: Aug 21, 2019 20:26 IST

Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs who lost out on ministerial berths in Tuesday’s expansion of chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s Cabinet continued to sulk over their exclusion, one of the party’s senior leaders Umesh Katti received a friendly invite to return Janata Dal (S).

Katti (59), a senior Lingayat leader from Belagavi district and had expressed surprise at his exclusion from the Cabinet, into which 17 ministers were inducted on Tuesday. Katti has been an MLA eight consecutive times since 1985.

A product of the Janata Party, he was a member of its various versions till he joined the BJP in 2008.

On Wednesday, Janata Dal (Secular) leader Basavaraj Horatti, a close aide from his Janata days visited Katti, fuelling speculation of his possible exit from the BJP. After his meeting, Horatti said that he had jokingly suggested to Katti that he should return to the Janata Parivar.

Also read: Dissidence breaks out in Karnataka BJP after Yediyurappa gets new cabinet

“I just told him in a light-hearted manner that he should return to the Janata Parivar because nothing now can match those days when we were in power together,” he said. “He agreed with this observation, but it was only said in a jovial manner,” Horatti said.

However, the joke stirred up speculation that Katti could quit the BJP. Katti told HT that he had been a minister twice in his career, first between 1996 and 1999 in the Janata Dal government and then between 2008 and 2013 in the BJP.

“I am clueless about my exclusion and obviously it has come as a bitter surprise, even though I am not really one to run behind these positions,” he said.

Also read: Karnataka Cabinet expansion: In Yediyurappa’s cabinet sealed at midnight, Lingayats get pride of place

“I have spoken to Yediyurappa and I asked him to tell me if I had made any mistake and I was being punished for it. After all, it was Yediyurappa who made me shift to the BJP,” Katti said. “I haven’t thought about quitting the party, but Horatti is an old friend and we grew in politics together, along with the likes of (former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party chief) Siddaramaiah. Of course, we have all gone our separate ways now and I haven’t given much thought to this,” he said, adding “I think the party is testing us. Anyway, even Yediyurappa doesn’t know why I was excluded,” he said.

Meanwhile, 10 of the 17 disqualified rebel former MLAs flew to New Delhi on Wednesday along with former MLA and BJP leader CP Yogeshwar. The resignations and subsequent disqualifications of the former MLAs had precipitated the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government last month.

However, Yogeshwar said this was only to consult with their legal team. “They are concerned that the case hasn’t come up yet as they want to contest the bypolls,” he said.

When asked if they were angling for ministerial berths, Yogeshwar said that was only natural. “After all, this is like a coalition government. The BJP hasn’t come to power on its own and we have to reward these people for helping us come to power,” he said, while refusing to confirm if the rebels would meet any top leader of the BJP in Delhi.