Bengaluru: Ibrahim's U-turn, to stay in Congress

Bengaluru: Congress Legislative Council member Chand Mahal Ibrahim who recently announced his resignation from the party on Sunday said he would continue in the grand old party. The senior Congress leader had left the party and also announced his resignation from the membership of the upper house.

His political somersault comes as no surprise for Congress. "It was expected of him to do this hilarious act. When he announced a fortnight back that he would resign from the party we all had our doubts, in fact, no Congress leader had approached him to take back his decision. He says the high command had called him for talks, we still do not have any clue who from the high command summoned him," said his critics among senior Congress leaders. There is no doubt that he has more adversaries in the Congress than in the other parties, say some JDS leaders.

It may be recalled that the "old friends" HD Kumarswamy the JDS leader and Ibrahim had met in Bengaluru and had announced that there could be a major shift in State politics, especially in the minorities segment after Ibrahim decided to quit Congress. But it was not to be. JDS wanted to cash in on the event of his departure from the Congress and rally Muslim voters in the State, it was a wrong move to trust Ibrahim, say the JDS leaders. However, Congress now has three top Muslim leaders -- UT Khader the deputy leader of the opposition, MLA Zameer Ahmad Khan and Ibrahim.

Ibrahim also has the support of top-level Muslim clerics, UT Khader a young leader of the party who has a 'Mr. Clean staunch Congress leader" image and Zameer Ahmed Khan with sound financial backing.