With the ministerial expansion behind him, but dissatisfaction over regional and caste imbalances in the Cabinet brewing in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is now finding it difficult to placate all his Cabinet colleagues as he has to allocate portfolios.
While the newly inducted Ministers have been lobbying hard for key portfolios, including those already allotted to others, those Ministers are unwilling to give up key portfolios, creating a new fault line, sources in the party said. The Chief Minister had, on Thursday, said that he would allocate portfolios by Saturday. However, the exercise may take a few more days, as he is still seeing intense lobbying. He has said that he would consult the party high command on portfolio allocation.
For instance, B.C. Patil, a former police officer, has demanded that he be given the Home portfolio, which is presently with Basavaraj Bommai. According to sources, Mr. Bommai is willing to give up that portfolio if he is allotted Water Resources. However, Ramesh Jarkiholi has been adamant that he be assigned the Water Resources portfolio that his political foe D.K. Shivakumar had held during the rule of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government. He has also demanded that he be assigned the same room in the Vidhana Soudha and the government bungalow Mr. Shivakumar held, sources said.
Charge of districts
Another tricky issue is assigning districts to Ministers, especially Belagavi which has been a political tinderbox for long. Though Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi is from the district, the in-charge Minister is Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, who is from Dharwad. With Umesh Katti already losing out, it is unlikely that Mr. Jarkiholi will be given charge of Belagavi even though he has been strongly pitching for it.
B.A. Basavaraja, K. Gopalaiah and S.T. Somashekhar have openly demanded that they be assigned the Urban Development or Bengaluru Development portfolios. Revenue Minister R. Ashok has also expressed an interest in holding the latter, according to sources. However, sources said the Chief Minister, who holds the ministry now, will retain it. Mr. Somashekhar is likely to be given the Cooperation Department as he has been active in the sector for over two decades. K. Sudhakar is believed to be keen on the Higher Education and Medical Education departments, presently held by Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan.
Mr. Patil, who is also an actor and producer, has expressed an interest in the Kannada and Culture Department as well, which is held by C.T. Ravi. However, the the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is said to be keen that an RSS man holds that portfolio.
