The expansion of the Karnataka Ministry to its optimum strength of 34 is neither expected to strengthen the government nor hurt the Congress, although many of the party seniors have not been provided a berth.
Karnataka is the only major State where the Congress is presently ruling, and the manner in which the Ministry expansion was done is a clear indication that the party high command, and in particular the AICC president Sonia Gandhi, is keen that intra-party friction is pegged to the minimum.
It is another matter that the governance of the State and effective administration is not really the focus.
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A full-fledged reshuffle of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet has been put on the backburner obviously on the directions of the party high command, although the Chief Minister was keen on a major overhaul. All along, over the past 30 months, the Ministry remained untouched, and there was no exercise of stock-taking. The Chief Minister had studiously avoided any change in the composition of the Ministry largely to avoid dissent.
It is common knowledge that there are at least six Ministers, who have to be ejected from the Ministry either owing to their non-performance or corruption, though there are no specific complaints of commissions and omissions made out against them. Added to this, there are several districts which have no representation in the Ministry, and it would have been appropriate for the party to give a representation to all districts prior to facing the elections to the zilla and the taluk panchayats, which are due in a few months. Owing to the poor infrastructure and the attention that it requires, Bengaluru has now been provided with a Minister devoted primarily to the better upkeep of the State’s capital.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had initially opined that the Ministry expansion should be done only after the elections to the zilla and taluk panchayats and the Legislative Council. This obviously was struck down by the Congress high command given the pressure from the party rank and file. The last expansion took place in January 2014 to induct two powerful partymen — R. Roshan Baig and D.K. Shivakumar.
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Sources in the government and in the Congress told The Hindu that the attention of the party high command was drawn for the Ministry expansion primarily to induct the incumbent president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, G. Parameshwara, whose term as the State party chief is scheduled to end shortly. He has, however, been denied the post of Deputy Chief Minister, which has been his demand ever since Mr. Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister.
It is common knowledge that the Chief Minister was not so keen on having a Deputy Chief Minister, more so since it is a single-party rule in the State. There are also the claims of several other senior Congress leaders, who have been seeking a berth in the Ministry and prominent among them are Veeranna Mattikatti, K.B. Koliwad, A.B. Malakaraddi, N.A. Haris apart from C.S. Nadagouda, who has since been functioning as the States Special Representative in New Delhi.
Barring the two members of the Legislative Council — G. Parameshwara and S.R. Patil — who have made it to the Ministry, the demands of the other members of the Upper House have been ignored. Their reaction to the Ministry expansion will also be of interest.
( The writer is Resident Representative, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Bengaluru .)