No representation for five districts in north Karnataka in State Cabinet
While the newly expanded ministry has 10 new faces and return of seven more Ministers of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, senior leaders from north Karnataka (Kalyana
While the newly expanded ministry has 10 new faces and return of seven more Ministers of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, senior leaders from north Karnataka (Kalyana and Kittur Karnataka) are feeling left out as five districts from the region have no representation in the expansion. These are the districts that had representation in the previous Cabinet of former Chief Minister Siddarmaiah, but now have been left out. They are Gadag, Vijayanagara, Uttara Kannada, Yadgir and Raichur. In the previous Cabinet, Gadag was represented by senior leader H.K. Patil who served as Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism.
In the Shivakumar Cabinet, however, he has been left out. The only consolation for Gadag district is that MLA for Ron G.S. Patil has been chosen to become the next Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Upset over the denial of Cabinet berth to their leader, followers of Mr. Patil staged a demonstration in Gadag on Monday, and 19 Congress members of the Gadag Betageri Municipal Corporation tendered their resignation to the Deputy Commissioner of Gadag district. Senior leader from Raichur N.S. Boseraju, who was also the Floor Leader of Congress in the Legislative Assembly, has been left out in the Cabinet expansion, leaving Raichur unrepresented.
Raichur witnessed protest by supporters of MLA for Sindhanur Hampanagouda Badarli on Monday. Sharnabasappa Darashanapur from Yadgir district was in Mr. Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet, and now the district has no representation in Mr. Shivakumar’s Cabinet. Similar is the case of Uttara Kannada district where MLA for Bhatkal Mankala Vaidya served as Minister for Fisheries and Ports in the previous Cabinet. Although his name figured in the first list of Ministers to be sworn in, it later got replaced with the name of S.S. Mallikarjun in the revised list released ahead of the swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
Taking exception to the development, the leaders of the Koli-Kabbaliga community held a press conference in Yadgir on Tuesday and have spoken of ‘teaching a good lesson’ to Congress for dropping Mr. Vaidya. Although unrepresented, the case of Vijayanagara district is a bit different. It had no representation in the previous Cabinet and now remains unrepresented in the present Cabinet also.
The BriefWire