india

Updated: Aug 22, 2019 00:36 IST

Umesh Katti, who has been among the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers upset over their exclusion from Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet after its expansion with the induction of 17 ministers into it on Tuesday, on Wednesday met opposition Janata Dal (Secular) leader Basavaraj Horatti.

Horatti said he suggested to Katti, a former Janata Dal lawmaker who joined the BJP in 2008, that he should return to their fold. “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’s comments triggered speculation that Katti could quit the BJP.

Katti said he has been a minister in previous Janata Dal and BJP governments. “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. Katti added he has spoken to Yediyurappa and asked him what was he being punished for. “After all, it was Yediyurappa who inducted me into the BJP.”

Katti said he has not thought about quitting the BJP. “Horatti is an old friend and we grew in politics together, along with the likes of [former chief minister and Congress leader] Siddaramaiah. Of course, we have all gone our separate ways now and I have not given much thought to this,” he said. “I think the party [BJP] is testing us. Even Yediyurappa does not know why I was excluded.”

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