BENGALURU: Bolstered by the central party command’s renewed espousal of faith in him, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is seeking to calm the waters of dissent by recrafting the shape of his cabinet. But playing captain is never easy when the seas are rough. The portfolios he allocated today to his seven new ministers has itself become a fresh point of contention. Last week’s long-awaited cabinet expansion had already created heartburn among those left out. Now, as many ministers express displeasure over not getting what they wanted, Operation Salvage is turning truly messy.
For one, the CM continues to keep key portfolios such as Finance, Bengaluru Development and Energy with him -- that reduces the pool from which he can draw. As a consequence, those who had to make space for the seven legislators who took oath as ministers on January 13 are openly airing their discontent, in action if not words.
Minister Gopalaiah has been given the Horticulture portfolio while new inductee Umesh Katti gets Food and Civil Supplies that was with the former. While Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai gets additional responsibility of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, J C Madhuswamy has been moved Medical Education, Kannada and Culture portfolio. Aravind Limbavali, who was eyeing Bengaluru Development, gets Forest ministry, while M T B Nagaraj will be the new Excise Minister.
R Shankar has been given Municipal Administration and Sericulture while Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport, which was with Kota Srinivas Poojari, has been given to S Angara, the new minister. C C Patil gets Small Scale Industries, Information and Public Relations.
Madhuswamy, Sudhakar miffed
Anand Singh, who was holding the Forest ministry, now gets Tourism. New minister C P Yogeshwar has been allocated the Minor Irrigation ministry. Some of the senior ministers including Medium and Large-Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, Housing Minister V Somanna and DyCMs Laxman Savadi, Dr Ashwath Narayan and Govind Karjol were left untouched.
Hours after allocating the portfolios, the CM and senior ministers held talks with those sulking to take them into confidence. However, four ministers — J C Madhuswamy who was shifted from Law and Parliamentary Affairs to Medical Education; Narayan Gowda, who was moved from Horticulture to Sports and Youth Services; and M T B Nagaraj, who was given Excise, and Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar abstained from cabinet meeting.
Some of them are believed to have met at Sudhakar’s residence in Bengaluru. Earlier in the day, Madhuswamy had skipped the CM’s programme at Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru. Senior ministers R Ashoka and Basavaraj Bommai have been assigned the task of talking to the disgruntled ministers and dousing the discontent. After the talks, Gopalaiah and Nagaraj said the CM is their leader and they will work as per his direction. “I have the satisfaction of doing a good job even during the lockdown. Whatever differences, we have, it will be sorted out,’’ Gopalaiah said.Earlier, the minister had said, “People know how I worked. But my portfolio has been changed. Four or five of us have similar issues which we will discuss with the CM.”