BENGALURU: If Friday’s portfolio allotments are any indicator, Karnataka seems to be high up in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s list of priorities and if DV Sadananda Gowda has his way, it will continue to remain so. With four ministers from the state making it to Modi’s team, Gowda is planning a smaller, more informal group, including the remaining three, to ensure that Karnataka’s interests are adequately represented at the Centre.
“We are four (Nirmala Sitharaman, Pralhad Joshi, Suresh Angadi and Gowda) in the Modi government. We want to meet once every fortnight, discuss and take up issues as a team,” Gowda said, speaking to The New Indian Express on Friday.
Between the four of them, they hold portfolios spanning finance, railways, chemicals, fertilizers and coal, all critical sectors for the state. For Sadananda Gowda, once a former CM, it is clear that putting Karnataka on the backburner for his national ambitions is not an option. Stating that his heart beats for the state, he said that he also planned to start a ‘Karnataka Office’ next to his home office, to deal exclusively with matters from home.
Currently, the plan is to deploy one or two people at this office, mainly to take down grievances and find solutions, he said. “In the past five years, so many issues have been taken up and resolved. We want to do more.” But will this bifurcation of work affect the group’s priorities? No, said the astute politician, immediately launching into a list of national priorities he has in mind. “For starters, we want to cut down our dependence on imports. We are reviving five important fertilizer plants, working on making several generic drugs and cancer medicines available at affordable rates,” he said.