BENGALURU: Wary of another round of possible dissent post cabinet expansion, Congress in Karnataka is treading carefully with its selection for the inclusion of six new ministers into the state cabinet. Tired of the internal bickering, factionalism and rebellion over one issue or another ailing the Congress ever since it came to power in coalition with the JD(S), the party has charted out a strategy to avoid any further threat. With 16 of its MLAs already in the cabinet, the Congress has six more berths to fill along with appointments to 20 boards and corporations.
Apart from bridging the representation of caste and region gap, the Congress is now looking to choose legislators who pose the greatest threat to the coalition if left out of the cabinet. This strategy may come as good news to popular leaders like M B Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Roshan Baig who were not considered for the cabinet during its formation. Influencers within state Congress who have a following of their own, including MLAs, will have a say in either endorsing themselves or their aides for the cabinet or boards and corporations.
"Keeping everyone happy is impossible but keeping influencers happy will be the target of the party. Legislators who are influences- in terms of caste, region and manpower are likely to trump others during cabinet expansion," said a senior Congress leader. Fully aware that there is no way to keep everybody on board happy, the party has decided to leave out those who cause the least damage.
Sources from the party said that selection of new ministers and appointments for boards and corporations will be done in such a way that not more than five or six legislators are left disappointed. The party hopes that the high command's decision to keep first-time elects out of ministries will help balance their strategy.
"Plan is to ensure that only those who cannot gather support or enough numbers for a rebellion are left out. People capable of churning dissent will not be given a chance to complain. This is the only way to ensure that no more rebellion that has the potential to threaten the government arises," a party source said. After filling all 22 cabinet berths and 20 boards and corporation posts, the Congress will still have 28 legislators without an additional post. The party still believes that the 28 legislators could be managed given the various groups they belong to.
The fear of further rebellion had forced the coalition partners to postpone cabinet expansion from the last week of September to the first week of October post bypolls to the Legislative council. The decision to strategise their picks for the expansion comes after a strong message from the high command that any threat to the JD(S)-Congress coalition will not be tolerated. If the Congress' "pick influencers strategy" works according to plan, the BJP that is awaiting another wave of rebellion post-cabinet expansion may very well be in for a disappointment.