April 26: Senior Congress leader C.K. Jaffer Sharief arrived in Delhi today for talks with Sonia Gandhi but refused to say what he would do next.

The six-time MP had quit the party yesterday apparently because his grandson Abdul Rehman Sharief was not given a ticket for the May Karnataka polls and because the minorities had been ignored. “I can’t say anything,” Sharief, one of the senior-most minority leaders, said about the outcome of the talks.

“Sometimes certain situations in life make one look back on various issues to find where one stands.”

Asked if he was mulling switching sides — NCP leader Sharad Pawar has sounded him out and JD(S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda tried to but was denied access — he said he had “many friends” outside the Congress.

Sharief, however, said denial of a ticket to his grandson was not the reason for his resignation. “It is a silly matter, a propaganda to belittle me. There are various issues which I cannot discuss with the media.”

He claimed there had been a “certain failure” on the part of state leadership in addressing concerns raised by him. “It should have been sorted out there. Delhi should come into picture only when there is arbitration.”

Sharief’s resignation is a blow to the Congress because it is bound to have an effect on minority votes. He was heading the three-member Congress manifesto committee that has a say in ticket distribution.

This is not the first time Sharief, who has won the Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat six times, is using the resignation weapon. In 1995, he had quit as MP alleging minorities were being treated badly.

The feeler from Pawar has left the Congress a little nervous about the erosion of minority and backward class votes.

“There is a general fear that mishandling this crisis may lead to the erosion of the Congress vote bank, already under threat from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party,” a source said.