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Karnataka gets 3 dy chief ministers, triggers heartburn in Yediyurappa camp
The allocation of portfolio for the 17 ministers inducted into the cabinet last week had taken over a week and two trips by chief minister BS Yediyurappa to New Delhi to materialise.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday named Govind Karjol, CN Ashwath Narayan and Laxman Savadi as deputy chief ministers, in a move that has caused heartburn among senior members in the Cabinet.
The allocation of portfolio for the 17 ministers inducted into the cabinet last week had taken over a week and two trips by chief minister BS Yediyurappa to New Delhi to materialise.
Karjol has been given the sought-after public works department, while Ashwath Narayan has been given the higher education portfolio and Savadi, the transport ministry.
The choices also indicate the caste combinations that the BJP is trying to project: Karjol hails from a Scheduled Caste community, while Ashwath Narayan is a Vokkaliga and Savadi a Lingayat.
Among the senior ministers, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar has been handed out the large and medium industries, former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa the rural development, and another former deputy chief minister R Ashok the revenue ministry.
Basavaraj Bommai is the new home minister, B Sreeramulu the health minister, S Suresh Kumar the primary and secondary education minister, JC Madhuswamy the law and parliamentary affairs minister, and CT Ravi is the tourism minister.
Shashikala Jolle, the lone woman in the Cabinet, has been handed the women and child development portfolio, while Independent MLA H Nagesh has been given the excise portfolio.
The list came after much delay and caused a few nervous moments for the ministers, even though chief minister BS Yediyurappa had said in the morning, “a list with the portfolio allocation will be sent to the Governor and by evening it will be released”.
However, as the Cabinet met in the evening at 4 pm, there was no sign of the portfolios. The portfolios were initially slated to be announced on Saturday. It was put off after the demise of former Union minister Arun Jaitley.
But there had been a buzz that the central leadership would go for three deputy chief ministers. BJP leaders particularly grudge the possible appointment of Ashwath Narayan, a first-time minister, and Savadi, who is not a member of either house of the legislature, as deputy chief ministers. That speculation was dot on the mark.
Senior ministers confirmed that many had expressed reservations over these decisions to senior BJP leaders in the state. “What can be said at this time,” said one minister, “it is not as if Yediyurappa has much of a say in this matter. Everything has been decided in New Delhi,” he added.
Of the 17 ministers inducted into the Cabinet, seniors like Shettar, a former chief minister, Eshwarappa and Ashok are believed to have expressed reservations over the news of the deputy chief ministers.
Savadi’s inclusion in the Cabinet had already caused resentment among some leaders, particularly MLA Umesh Katti who has kicked up a fuss over his exclusion.
Katti and Savadi hail from the Belagavi district, and a senior minister said that the former’s exclusion was based on the recommendation of the central leadership.
The rumblings within the BJP have been so apparent that former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party chief Siddaramaiah said on Monday that according to him, mid-term polls might be called within a year.
“I have asked the workers to strengthen the party and be ready because the elections might come any day. Nobody believes this government will last for very long,” he said.
“They are trying to run a government with Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) people [disqualified rebel MLAs], so I think at best it will last a year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress leadership is set to decide on the Leader of the Opposition soon, with senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad set to arrive in the city on Tuesday.
