As anticipated, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday effected a minor reshuffle of portfolios, by taking away Health and Family Welfare from senior leader B. Sriramulu and handing it over to Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar for better handling of the COVID-19 situation.
In a bid to mollify the now upset BJP leader from Ballari, who was also stripped of the Backward Classes Welfare portfolio, the Chief Minister is set to meet Mr. Sriramulu on Tuesday morning in a bid to convince him of the decision taken.
While Health and Family Welfare was allocated to Dr. Sudhakar, the Chief Minister took back the Backward Classes Welfare portfolio.
Mr. Sriramulu has been given the Social Welfare portfolio, a notification from Raj Bhavan said.
Thanking the Chief Minister for having reposed faith in him and giving him an additional responsibility, Dr. Sudhakar said that controlling the pandemic and reducing the mortality rate were his priorities.
He added that it was easy for one Minister to coordinate between the Health and Family Welfare and the Medical Education departments.
Brief meeting
Earlier in the day, though Mr. Sriramulu met the Chief Minister a couple of hours before the notification came in to the public domain, the talks remained brief and inconclusive.
Timing questioned
It is learnt that Mr. Sriramulu questioned the timing of his removal in the midst of COVID-19 management efforts and expressed unhappiness over the decision.
“Before the decision to replace him, he was neither consulted nor informed. Mr. Sriramulu was told about the decision over the phone, which has upset him,” a source close to the Minister said.
As the decision became official, it is learnt that several party leaders called and advised him not to take any decision in haste.
By Monday evening, the Chief Minister also spoke to him over the phone, inviting him for a meeting on Tuesday morning to thrash out the differences.
The Chief Minister, it is learnt, told Mr. Sriramulu that he had been given Social Welfare, an important portfolio, and that the minor reshuffle should not be “taken to heart, and that he was with him.”
However, a source close to the Minister said: “He believes that the timing of his replacement was not right when an anticipated Cabinet expansion or reshuffle is being planned right after the byelections. Being replaced in the middle of COVID-19 management sends a wrong signal too. Taking away the Backward Classes Welfare portfolio has hurt him because it was given to him citing that he was a Backward Classes leader.”
Already, Mr. Sriramulu is learnt to be upset at being denied the post of Deputy Chief Minister and he was also not made Minister in charge of Ballari.
“The justification about Medical Education and Health and Family Welfare has also not cut any ice with him as he feels that if that was the case, it should have been done long ago,” the source added.
KPCC response
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar has said that their charge of the State government’s incompetency has now come true.
“The Cabinet reshuffle is proof of this government’s miserable failure in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that the Health Minister has been changed adds credence to our charge that this government’s incompetency has led to massive loss of lives and livelihood,” he added.
