BENGALURU: The Congress-JD(S) coalition government’s cabinet in Karnataka finally took shape on Wednesday with 9 MLAs of JD(S), 1 from BSP, 14 legislators of Congress and one independent MLA being sworn in as ministers. While the expansion leaves seven berths vacant, the current cabinet has a heavy representation from the Vokkaliga community and accommodates more ministers from southern parts of Karnataka, especially the Old Mysuru region which is considered the JD(S) bastion.
The 27-member cabinet, including Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, now has 10 ministers from the Vokkaligas community, accounting for more than 1/3rd of the total strength. Leaked estimates from the Siddaramaiah government’s caste census peg the total population of Vokkaligas in Karnataka at around 8 per cent but the representation of the community in the cabinet is skewed in comparison to other communities.
The cabinet has just four Lingayats, four Dalits including Parameshwara, two Muslims, one Christian, one Brahmin and four ministers from backward classes communities of Kuruba, Uppara and Ediga. Despite a Kuruba strongman like Siddarmaiah leading the Congress’ election campaign, the only Kuruba representative that the Congress has inducted is R Shankar, who is from KPJP.
While JD(S), a party that is considered heavily Vokkaliga, has inducted two Lingayats, the Congress that has a greater representation of Lingayat MLAs also accommodated just two from the community. With no Ediga candidate from either party winning the assembly election, the Congress inducted MLC Jayamala, who is from the community, as its sole woman minister.
“Let us not talk about it now,” is how Parameshwara reacted when asked about the heavy Vokkaliga representation in the cabinet. While the JD(S) naturally has more Vokkaliga MLAs considering the pockets where the party is strong, the Congress too has indcuted three Vokkaliga ministers.
The cabinet’s district-wise representation also reeks of inequality with southern Karnataka districts -- the stronghold of JD(S) - contributing more ministers than Northern Karnataka districts. The cabinet now has 16 representatives from South Karnataka districts of Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Tumkur, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagar, Bengaluru Urban and Chikkaballapur. There are just 8 ministers from North Karnataka, representing districts of Bidar, Vijayapura, Raichur, Belagavi, Kalburgi and Haveri. Only three ministers from Coastal Karnataka have made it to the cabinet. Both the CM and the Deputy CM are from Southern Karnataka. Representatives of 16 districts have found a place in the cabinet while those from 14 others have not.
