DKS meets Ibrahim, tries to convince him not to leave Congress

Bengaluru: Karanataka State Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar met senior leader and MLC, C M Ibrahim at the latter's residence on Saturday and tried to convince him not to leave the party. Recently, Janata Dal (S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy met Ibrahim and reportedly invited him to join his party.

According to sources, Shivakumar listened to Ibrahim's woes and also tried his best to convince him not to leave Congress. However, it's learnt that no specific assurance came from Ibrahim. Mr Ibrahim, who was earlier in JD (S) was a close associate of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowd and also identified himself as a close aide of former chief minister Siddaramaiah. However, all is not well between them.

Ibrahim, a former Union minister, had joined Congress in 2008.

According to sources, Ibrahim has been sulking for some time now, upset with the party, especially Siddaramaiah after he was not considered for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, the position currently occupied by S R Patil, who is also considered to be close to the former chief minister.

Ibrahim had left JD(S) after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

He was also associated with "AHINDA" (a social movement forged by minorities, backwards and dalits) in Karnataka led by Siddaramaiah before both joined the Congress.