HUBBALLI: An unimpressive performance by candidates of both JD(S) and Congress in the recent Assembly polls seems to have cost Bombay-Karntaka dear, as the region is least represented in the new cabinet. Even biggies such as H K Patil, Basavaraj Horatti, M B Patil and S R Patil have failed to make it to the ministry.
Questions are being raised as a mystery surrounds the dropping of M B Patil and Horatti, who spearheaded the agitation for a separate religious status for the Lingayat community. It is being said that their close affiliation to the caste could have angered the party leadership, as is their proximity to Siddaramaiah. They are being accused of playing into the hands of the former chief minister, who wanted to dent the Lingayat vote bank of the BJP by creating the division.
Though Horatti has repeatedly said their Lingayat agitation was never politically motivated, raking up the issue well before the election certainly put him in the dock. It is being said in party circles that the JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda was unhappy with Horatti’s move. Since only one berth is now vacant in the party’s quota, he is unlikely to make it to the ministry.
“A setback in the hustings for the two parties in the Lingayat heartland may have antogonised the leadership, prompting them to leave prominent leaders of the community out of the Cabinet,” says an analysts.