BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has had the last laugh. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday gave her assent to the major cabinet rejig that he had been pushing for. As a result, 14 non-performing and tainted ministers will be dropped to make way for “more dynamic members” into the cabinet. The new ministers will be sworn-in on Sunday evening at the Raj Bhavan.
The rejig talks had run into a stonewall on Friday night due to reported resistance from veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge over dropping Qamarul Islam and Baburao Chinchansur from the ministry. But Siddaramaiah stood firm during his over two-hour talk with Sonia.
Sonia finally relented after Siddaramaiah reportedly explained the need to be merciless in weeding out poor performers and controversy-ridden ministers who have embarrassed the government. Siddaramaiah presented his list of inductees with the right balance of caste and region.
Housing Minister M H Ambareesh, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar and Revenue Minister Srinivasa Prasad are among prominent names who are on their way out. Though Health Minister U T Khader was also in the list, he was spared as Sonia acknowledged his enthusiasm and hard work.
A beaming Siddaramaiah announced on Saturday, “Madam has given her consent for my cabinet rejig plans and the revamp would be completed within a day or two.” However, he refused to reveal the number of ministers to be dropped and new composition of the cabinet.
According to sources close to Siddaramaiah, 14 ministers are likely to be shown the door. As for induction of new ministers, the Chief Minister plans to fill up 13 spots and keep one berth vacant keeping in mind any future political exigencies. However, the list of 14 new names to replace those to be sacked is ready.
Speaker of Legislative Assembly Kagodu Thimmappa is set to enter the cabinet while K B Koliwad is likely to take his post. Former Speaker of the Assembly Ramesh Kumar, M Krishnappa and Priyank Kharge, son of Mallikarjun Kharge, are among the others set to make it to the ministry.
But there are already rumblings of dissent from those being ousted. Supporters of the outgoing ministers staged protests across the state.
With Karnataka being the only major state where Congress is in power, the party high command is in no mood to lose it here. The determination to retain Karnataka at any cost was evident when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah placed his request for party supremo Sonia Gandhi’s nod to drop at least 10 poor performers and those with not-so-good-image in his ministry.
Siddaramaiah, who had taken a revised list of ministers to be dropped after encountering resistance from veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge for dropping Baburao Chinchansur and Quamarul Islam from the ministry, was pleasantly surprised when Sonia reportedly asked “why just 10, you can go up to 14 if you feel they are all a liability for the ministry and the government.”
However, it took over two hours for Siddaramaiah to convince the “Madam” on the need to go for a major surgery for his ministry, and the exit of Chinchansur and Qamarul was inevitable. His assurance to ensure caste and regional balance in executing the rejig plan clinched the deal fully in favour of Siddaramaiah as he assured induction of Pramod Madhwaraj, from fishemen community, the same as Chinchansur, and offset exit of Qamarul Islam with a more dynamic and youthful Tanveer Sait.
Similar care has been taken in most of the ministers who are being dropped, though the harsh practical realities will not allow a perfect balancing.
According to sources, Sonia had just one strong message for Siddaramaiah: have a free hand in revamping the ministry but ensure that party wins the 2018 polls. Whatever needed to be done to achieve the mission, the party high command would do that. Thus Kharge’s resistance for dropping Chinchansur and Qamarul was brushed aside and Siddaramaiah emerged much more stronger as he headed towards Bengaluru after the talks.