BENGALURU: Exactly a week after eight new ministers have inducted into the Congress-JD(S) coalition cabinet, the Congress has finally allotted portfolios. In a bid to keep senior leaders, who had to let go of plum posts, happy, Congress has given additional portfolios and reassigned existing portfolios to strike a balance. To show that it has given due importance to North Karnataka, the coveted Home ministry was given to M B Patil.
AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, K C Venugopal, has written to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy suggesting allocation of portfolios to all 22 Congress ministers with portfolio reassignment approved by party president Rahul Gandhi. Despite heavy resistance, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has been forced to give up the Home portfolio while D K Shivakumar had to let go of the medical education ministry which has now been reassigned to E Tukaram.
To avoid bad blood, Parameshwara has been given IT&BT, previously held by K J George; Law, Justice and Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs, which was held by Krishna Byregowda; in addition to his existing Bengaluru development portfolio. D K Shivakumar has been given Kannada and Culture ministry, which was held by Jayamala.
The trio of Siddaramaiah, K C Venugopal and Dinesh Gundu Rao trumped all resistance from senior ministers like Parameshwara and Shivakumar to hold on to plum portfolios. “We cannot afford to not give a prominent post to North Karnataka ministers. We have to strike a balance and it will look bad if only minor portfolios were given to someone like M B Patil,” said a source from the party, suggesting that all differences had to be set aside to ensure a balancing act.
Drama over portfolio allocation played out for three days before the announcement finally came in. The state government issued a notification on Friday evening giving effect to Congress’ recommendations for their 22 ministers.
