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Yediyurappa asks Karnataka CM Bommai to withdraw cabinet rank assigned to him
The controversy erupted on Saturday after Bommai, a known loyalist of Yediyurappa, asked that the latter be given all privileges of a cabinet rank minister even though the 78-year-old is just a legislator after stepping down from the top post on July 26.
Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday requested that all cabinet privileges that were accorded to him by his successor, Basavaraj Bommai, be taken back after the move triggered a controversy in the state.
Yediyurappa wrote to Bommai on Sunday, asking the latter only to give him the same privileges accorded to his predecessors and not any equivalent to cabinet rank. “I request you to provide me only those facilities that are given to an immediate former chief minister and withdraw the order giving me cabinet rank,” Yediyurappa said in his letter to Bommai on Sunday.
The controversy erupted on Saturday after Bommai, a known loyalist of Yediyurappa, asked that the latter be given all privileges of a cabinet rank minister even though the 78-year-old is just a legislator after stepping down from the top post on July 26.
“They have given Yediyurappa cabinet rank. On one side they talk about austerity measures, reduce expenditure, while committed expenditure is 102%. They (government) say that it has become difficult to pay interest, salaries, pensions and subsidies and on the other hand they are doing this,” Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and leader of the opposition said.
He, however, said that it was a good thing that Yediyurappa was giving up the cabinet rank, which has never been accorded to anyone who has held the position in Karnataka before.
Bommai tried to show his loyalty to Yediyurappa in more ways than one and meets the latter on a regular basis, indicating that the 78-year-old continues to remain in charge of the functioning of the government.
