Congress leader Lakhan Jarkiholi on Tuesday said that he will lead the party in Gokak constituency in Belagavi in the absence of his brother Ramesh Jarkiholi. He also took a swipe at Ramesh’s brothers-in-law, accusing them of ‘leading him down the wrong path.’

This comes after Ramesh confirmed on Monday that he has resigned as the MLA of Gokak constituency. "The three idiots are taking Ramesh on the wrong path. It has been one year now since this has happened and I have not been in contact with him. Appirao Patil, Ambirao Patil and Shankar Patil are misguiding Ramesh," said Lakhan. Ambirao, Appirao and Shankar are all brothers-in-law of Ramesh. 

Ambirao Patil was in the news recently as he had laid the foundation stone and inaugurated several projects, including a girls hostel at the Mallapur Pattan Panchayat and the Valmiki Bhavan in Gokak, in the absence of disgruntled Ramesh. 

Lakhan added that he is ready to take over the reins of the Congress party in Gokak. 

"I am ready to contest from Gokak if there is an election," he added. Satish had earlier named Lakhan as the Congress party in-charge in Gokak. Lakhan had also held a meeting with members of the Gokak municipality. 

Ramesh had previously stated that he would switch to the BJP and contest against his other brother, Satish Jarkiholi, from Yemkanmardi. Satish won from the constituency in the Assembly Elections in 2018. Ramesh was also seen campaigning for the BJP candidate in Chikkodi during the Lok Sabha Elections.

The strength of the coalition government went down to 117 following Ramesh's resignation. Congress has 77 MLAs, the JD(S) has 37 MLAs and there is 1 BSP MLA in the Assembly. Two independent MLAs – R Shankar from Ranebennur and H Nagesh from Mulbagal constituencies – are also supporting the coalition.

Meanwhile, the BJP has 105 MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly. The majority mark in the Assembly is 113.