BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday reallocated the charge of districts among his cabinet ministers. To ensure smooth coordination of Covid-19 containment measures Yediyurappa has been insisting that district in-charge ministers stay put in their respective districts.
Considering that many in the cabinet continued to hold additional charges of districts and the new entrants into the cabinet had not been given charge of districts, lobbying had been on for key districts like Bengaluru, Belagavi among others.
While Yediyurappa has once again decided to retain charge of Bengaluru, neither Umesh Katti nor Laxman Savadi have been given charge of the coveted Belagavi district. Former water resources minister Ramesh Jarkiholi held charge before he resigned from the Cabinet following a sleaze tape controversy. Following his resignation, both Katti and Savadi had been hoping to be made in-charge of Belagavi.
Anticipating trouble if one is favoured over the other in the matter, the CM chose to give charge of Belagavi to Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol. Newly sworn-in minister Murugesh Nirani has been made in charge of Kalaburgi while Bengaluru MLA and minister Aravind Limbavali has been given charge of Bidar district. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti will be in charge of Bagalkot district while M T B Nagaraj will be in charge of Kolar.
Previously, H Nagesh was the in-charge minister, but was dropped from the Cabinet ahead of the expansion and rejig in January. Minister for Fisheries and Port, S Angara, has been made in charge of Chikkamagalur district. The appointments come into effect immediately and these ministers will be responsible for ensuring Covid-19 supplies to hospitals and patients, tracing, tracking and testing to contain the spread of the virus and implementation of curfew regulations in their respective districts.