BENGALURU: KPCC president G Parameshwara, who is eying the number two slot as deputy chief minister, might go the way of Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, if Congress president Sonia Gandhi directs him to join the Cabinet as a minister in the next reshuffle.
Sources close to him say that Parameshwara, who would soon complete his five-year term as president of the party state unit, will have no option other than joining the Cabinet if there is a diktat from Sonia.
Chennithala, who led the party in Kerala for nine years, did not join the government for a long time as he wanted the number two slot. His entry and elevation were stalled due to opposition among UDF partners, besides perceived differences with Kerala CM Oommen Chandy.
In much the same way as a section of Dalits are demanding a CM’s post for Parameshwara, the Nair Service Society had turned the heat on Congress demanding that Chennithala be made deputy CM, alleging the dominance of minorities in the government.
Mirroring the development in Karnataka where a section of dalits had set a deadline for the Congress to make a dalit the next CM, the NSS too had issued an ultimatum forcing Sonia’s intervention, following which Chennithala was inducted into the government on January 1, 2014.
He was made the Home Minister.
In Karnataka too, observers in the party believe Parameshwara would end up becoming a minister with two key portfolios. Sources close to the Congress president say that he has to abide by the decision taken by the party high command.
Aware of what had happened to his Kerala counterpart, Parameshwara is stepping up pressure on the party bosses by keeping the issue of the dalit CM alive. Though he has not openly supported those demanding a CM post for him, he is understood to have told the party brass that the demand cannot be ignored either.
Recently, AICC general secretary and party in-charge of Karnataka Digvijay Singh had waited for Parameshwara to return to the city.
However, the KPCC chief did not turn up, saying that he was busy with a delegation of All India Athletics Federation in Mangaluru, which will be hosting the national athletics meet.
The next day, he was summoned to New Delhi for talks. He, however, could not discuss the issue at length with Sonia as she was said to be ‘disturbed’ by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s sudden decision to take a sabbatical from the Budget session of Parliament.
Parameshwara is expected to go to Delhi soon to get a final word on his entry into the Cabinet as Siddaramaiah plans to reshuffle and expand the ministry soon after the budget session beginning from March 12.