BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is considering inducting the defeated Kuruba duo — richest former MLA MTB Nagaraj and former JDS state president Adagur H Vishwanath — into the cabinet, as a move to get more Kuruba representation in the party. If Laxman Savadi could be made DCM despite losing his assembly seat, why not induct the two Kurubas to counter Congress leader Siddaramaiah, is the thinking.
But the route will not be easy: Yediyurappa will have to discuss this with the party’s central leadership before he finalises his plan. At present, Rural Development Minister KS Eshwarappa is the only Kuruba in the cabinet, and is largely identified as a Yediyurappa detractor. The number of Kuruba MLAs in the assembly has come down by three, considering the twin loss and because R Shankar, also a Kuruba, did not contest.
Two months ago, Yediyurappa had said that he was doing a tightrope walk — perhaps this is truer now than before, as he is having to balance the aspirations of old-time BJP MLAs who have been elected for multiple terms, and newly elected MLAs. One man who has made no bones about his ministerial aspirations is Hukkeri MLA Umesh Katti, who met Yediyurappa. Later, Katti told TNIE that he had not discussed the cabinet expansion, but was fully confident that the CM would induct him whenever it did happen.
Katti’s detractors in the BJP point out that he is a Lingayat, and for a ministry that has eight Lingayat ministers, one more from the same denomination, and also from Belagavi, will lead to over-representation in the cabinet. After the induction of Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathalli, Shrimant Patil, besides Laxman Savadi, Belagavi will have a record number of ministers. Many are lobbying hard for a ministerial berth, and meeting influential religious heads and other persons to help them make the cut. Others are seeking to use every trick in the book, even writing to the central leadership, recommending their own case.
Among the other seniors whose names are doing the rounds are Mahadevpura MLA and SC leader Arvind Limbavali. But his detractors are asking how many from Bengaluru will be accommodated, because Yediyurappa is committed to taking in Byrati Basavaraj, ST Somashekar and K Gopalaiah, who have won from Bengaluru, besides ministers R Ashok, V Somanna, Suresh Kumar and DCM CN Ashwath Narayan. While the lobbyists are hard at their job, the ball is rolling into Yediyurappa’s court.