BENGALURU: A day after a miffed B Sreeramulu walked out of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s residence over reallocation of his portfolio, the latter has brokered a truce -- at least on the face of it -- between his two warring ministers.The CM held talks with Sreeramulu and Dr K Sudhakar on Tuesday morning and convinced them to put up a united front, especially since the state is set to witness bypolls to two Assembly seats.
In an attempt to send across the message that all is well, the Chief Minister’s Office even shared videos of the two ministers -- who have been at loggerheads ever since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out -- walking together in the lawns of the CM’s residence. After his talk with Yediyurappa, Sreeramulu finally agreed to accept the Social Welfare portfolio and even changed his social media handle’s bio accordingly.
The ministers, who spoke to the media after the truce meeting, claimed that there were no differences or hard feelings between them, but not without subtle taunts at each other.“All of us are putting in our efforts under the leadership of the Chief Minister to bring Covid-19 under control. We are trying to do all that we can beyond our strength. When Sudhakar took over the responsibility of Covid-19 management in Bengaluru, there were 1,000 cases per day, but now there are about 5,000 every day. That doesn’t mean he too has failed,” Sreeramulu quipped when asked if the change of portfolio was a result of his failure as Health and Family Welfare minister.
‘Always wanted Social Welfare Ministry’
Minister B Sreeramulu insisted that he was glad to head the Social Welfare ministry, a portfolio that he had always wanted.Not the one to ignore the subtle jibe, Sudhakar too said it was the right decision to merge both ministries under him. “Nowhere in the country are Health and Medical Education two different ministries. It cannot be. The set-up was causing problems at the grassroots level since some officers had to
report to the Health minister while others had to report to the Medical Education minister. Now that problem is solved and decision-making will be more effective,” Sudhakar said.