Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 4: The expansion of the Karnataka cabinet by inducting 19 new ministers on Monday has caused political turmoil in the Congress and headache for the Chief Minister DK Shivakumar forcing him to issue a stern warning on Tuesday to the disgruntled party members with several senior leaders expressing strong resentment and threatening to resign on being denied ministerial berths.
An unfazed chief minister said he would not hesitate for a minute to accept anyone’s resignation. “If someone resigns, I will accept it within a few minutes,” adding that he would call the MLAs and speak to each one individually.
“I have instructed all the ministers that they should immediately begin visiting all drought-affected areas from tomorrow itself. Don’t waste time. From tomorrow itself, you should visit all the districts. Have given instructions to all the officers to make arrangements for all the site visits. Everyone should get involved in this work. You must go to all the districts,” the Chief Minister told his new ministers.
With the long-awaited cabinet expansion finally materialising, it caused disgruntlement among the ruling Congress legislators, with a couple of ministerial aspirants who did not get a berth offering to resign. In fact, the MLA from Indi, Yashavantarayagouda V Patil, submitted his resignation from his legislative post on Monday. Supporters of several ministerial aspirants have staged protests in different parts of the state. The sanctioned strength of Karnataka’s ministry is 34, including the CM. Following Monday’s expansion, it now has one vacant berth.
Nineteen new MLAs on Monday took the oath as ministers, two months after Shivakumar took charge as the chief minister succeeding Mr Siddaramaiah.
Speaking to reporters amid the simmering discontent, Shivakumar asked them to be patient, putting his own example in front of them. “There are many legislators, many of them are eligible; I’m not denying that. The party has to make decisions in some situations. I too was not considered for the minister post in 2004; during the Siddaramaiah government too (in 2013-18) I was not taken into the cabinet initially. I remained patient,” Shivakumar said. “I’m sitting in this position because I remained patient. I request everyone to be patient. We will create some opportunity for everyone. Please be patient,” he added.
“Look, those who are resigning are all doing politics. No one can stop people who want to resign. They need a party, and they also need a future, that is with the party. If there is a party, this is it. I could have resigned during Dharam Singh’s time, or at different times, or during Siddaramaiah’s time when all my chief ministers were sidelining me. Was I not patient, even with G Parameshwara,” Shivakumar said.
The Chief Minister also threw in some history to make his point. “During Virendra Patil’s time it was not given to Bangarappa, it was not given to Kharge Saheb, (Present Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had never became the chief minister), it was not given to Dharam Singh. Didn’t all of them eventually become Chief Ministers?” Shivakumar said.
“In such situations, everyone has to be patient. The party is very important. If someone resigns, I will accept it within a few minutes,” Shivakumar underscored, adding that he was revamping all Boards and Corporations. “Now, everyone should submit their resignations. After that, I will first induct our workers into the Boards and Corporations. Once all the workers are accommodated, I will call the MLAs and speak to each one individually,” he said.
In a bid to contain the discontent, the Chief Minister has tasked senior leaders with reaching out to the aggrieved MLAs. Ministers N Cheluvarayaswamy and HC Balakrishna were assigned the responsibility of convincing M Krishnappa. The two ministers visited his residence early Tuesday morning, but the effort proved unsuccessful.
M Krishnappa was unavailable, forcing the ministers to return without meeting him, highlighting the deepening dissatisfaction within the Congress ranks following the cabinet expansion.
A group of party office-bearers from the Vijayanagar Assembly constituency submitted a collective resignation, protesting the denial of a cabinet berth to Mr Krishnappa. In a resignation letter addressed to Karnataka Congress chief BK Hariprasad, dated August 4, the leaders alleged that an injustice had been done to Krishnappa by excluding him from the state cabinet.
The letter states that all Block Congress presidents, ward presidents, women’s wing presidents, SC/ST and Minority wing presidents, divisional presidents, Youth Congress presidents, Guarantee Scheme committee presidents, and office-bearers of various party units from the Vijayanagar constituency have decided to resign collectively in protest.
Even as the position for a woman to be inducted into the cabinet remains vacant, lobbying has begun for the post. Sandur MLA Annapurna Tukaram, along with her father, met the Chief Minister. Congress MLA Nayana Motamma has raised her concerns over women’s representation, saying there are 5 women MLAs not even one has been given a ministerial post.
Congress MLA SR Srinivas has announced that he would resign as Chairman of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), expressing disappointment after missing out on a place in the Karnataka Cabinet.
“People were saying I have to become a minister, but those who had to say it haven’t, so I can’t do anything, in politics it’s difficult for an ordinary farmer’s son like me to come up, you need some godfathers, or you need to do something wrong and earn money, you have to learn such tricks or its difficult in politics, it’s been proved yet again,” SR Srinivas said.
The supporters of senior MLA Tanveer Sait staged a protest in Mysuru over the denial of a ministerial berth to him. The supporters staged a road blockade on the Mysuru-Bengaluru road, which was traffic jam. Meanwhile, the police detained the protesters.
Sait hit out at the ruling party for denial of a Cabinet berth. He alleged that the party has failed him and said that those who openly engage in anti-party activities and challenge the party have been rewarded. “There seems to be no value for loyalty and honesty,” he said.
Meanwhile, there was another protest from supporters of another MLA. Supporters of Govindarajanagar MLA Priya Krisha staged a protest and yelled slogans of justice. There have been several other protests by supporters of Ministerial aspirants from different parts of the state.
However, in contrast, some were willing to change their minds. Mr Belur Gopalkrishna who had threatened to resign met the Chief Minister at his house and then decided to drop his plan of resignation. “Yesterday I was disappointed and decided to resign. Because they said will be given a ministerial post in the second half. The Chief Minister called me last night and asked me to meet him. So I have visited him. Now after speaking to him I have decided not to resign. Will be with him and help the party grow,” he said.
Former Congress minister and MLA KN Rajanna’s and his son, MLC Rajendra, were among the disappointed leaders. “I expected father to get inducted into the cabinet. Tumkur is a big district. We either expected me or my father would get. But we can’t do anything now. We have abide by the party’s decision. One MLA has resigned and many are planning, its their personal decision. Sometimes it’s wrong to speak directly, and KN Rajanna is facing issues because of it. We expected him to get it but he missed it,” Rajendra said.
Shivakumar took the oath as the chief minister, along with 13 ministers, on June 3, after Siddaramaiah resigned from the position on May 28. The cabinet expansion is seen as crucial for the Congress in Karnataka as it seeks to maintain a delicate balance between the camps of Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, especially after the latter recently announced that he would not contest the next Karnataka assembly elections, which will be held in 2028.
