Four K’taka MPs join Modi’s new Cabinet

Bengaluru Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inducted four new faces from Karnataka into his cabinet that included a mix of senior and debutant parliamentarians

Bengaluru Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inducted four new faces from Karnataka into his cabinet that included a mix of senior and debutant parliamentarians.

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While DV Sadananda Gowda, the union minister for chemicals and fertilizers, was dropped, Shobha Karandlaje, A Narayana Swamy, Bhagwanth Khuba and Rajya Sabha member of parliament from Karnataka, Rajeev Chandrashekar, were inducted as ministers of state into the cabinet at the centre.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a higher priority to Karnataka and inducted four ministers from the state. On behalf of the people of the state, I thank the Prime Minister. He has done a very good selection. All four are influential, works impactfully and this will also give the state more strength,” CM BS Yediyurappa said on Wednesday.

Analysts and observers said that the induction of Karandlaje, the firebrand member of parliament from Udupi-Chikmagalur, raises several possibilities and has a bearing on the power struggle between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national leadership and CM Yediyurappa.

“The induction of Shobha Karandlaje can be seen in one of two ways. One is it can be seen as Yediyurappa is secure or as a kind of prelude to attacking Yediyurappa,” said one Bengaluru-based political analyst, requesting not to be named.

BY Raghavendra, MP from Shivamogga and Yediyurappa’s son, who was among the probables; did not make it to the union cabinet.

The analyst cited above said that the induction of Raghavendra would have been a clear sign that Yediyurappa would be replaced to further emphasize the BJP’s unwritten rule that only a person per family would be able to hold an administrative post.

“The current selection is not going to have any political dividends for the BJP in Karnataka,” A Narayana, political analyst and faculty at the Azim Premji University told Hindustan Times on Wednesday.

Karandlaje is a Vokkaliga, Khuba a Lingayat and Narayana Swamy is from the scheduled caste, which was seen as giving representation to all the major communities in Karnataka. Chandrashekar, a Brahmin, is likely to have been considered as a “technocrat”, analysts indicated.

Karandlaje has long held a reputation of making provocative and communally charged statements, courting controversies, especially in the run up to the 2018 assembly elections.

The selection also indicates how Yediyurappa’s powers have waned over the last decade where the BJP has ignored the choices put forward by the state and selected its own candidates even in the past for nominations for Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and even the legislative council.

Barring Chandrashekar, the other three candidates are proficient only in Kannada, which puts them at a disadvantage in Hindi, a dominant narrative in Delhi, analysts said.

They add that this would help the continuing consolidation of powers with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and very little with the ministers.

The BJP is yet to come to an agreement with Yediyurappa who hopes to not just continue in the top chair for the remainder of the two-year term but also placate his sons within the party and government, people aware of the developments said.

The 78-year-old Yediyurappa has been left to fend for himself amid attacks from all quarters, including from within his own government and party, alleging corruption, non-performance, mismanagement of the covid-19 pandemic and charges that his other son, BY Vijayendra, is running a parallel administration under the aegis of his father.

His past cases have also returned to haunt him, making the negotiations harder between the BJP and the chief minister over a possible replacement.

Though Yediyurappa was hailed as an unchallenged leader of the Lingayats, believed to be the single-largest community in the state, the sub-sects of the groups have now started to question this title, threatening to further dilute his core-support base, Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.