It was an interesting day for Belagavi politics on Wednesday when the State Cabinet was formed. Two legislators re-joined the Ministry, two were dropped and two others hoping to join the Cabinet were not considered.
Umesh Katti and Shashikala Jolle were administered the oath of office but Lakshman Savadi, who served as Deputy Chief Minister, and Srimanth Patil, who defected from the Congress to become Textile Minister, were not re-inducted. Three-time MLA Abhay Patil and young legislator P. Rajeev, who were hoping to make it, had to postpone their visit to the Raj Bhavan.
The Jarkiholi brothers, Ramesh and Balachandra, both former Ministers, were not considered either.
ADVERTISEMENT
There was speculation that the party will induct Balachandra Jarkiholi in the place of Ramesh Jarkiholi who resigned over allegations of sexual harassment. But their followers are now claiming that one of them will become a Minister in the next reshuffle.
Hukkeri MLA Umesh Vishwanath Katti, who said that he was hoping to be made a Deputy Chief Minister, had to be content with being a Cabinet Minister. A late entrant to the B.S. Yediyurappa Cabinet, Mr. Katti served as the Food and Civil Supplies Minister for around five months.
The leader who recently celebrated his 60th birthday has said that he will become the Chief Minister in the next 15 years of his active public life. He was hardly 25 when his father, the veteran Janata Parivar leader Vishwanath Katti, died in 1985. Later that year, he won the bypolls from Hukkeri to become the youngest member in the Assembly.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hailing from Bellad Bagewadi village near Hukkeri, he dropped out of pre university. He has a total assets of ₹27 crore and liabilities of ₹5 crore, as per his 2018 election affidavit.
Starting out as a young cooperative society leader, he has now grown to be among the senior-most legislators in the State winning seven general elections and a bypoll. He has been a Minister four times, holding important portfolios, including Food and Civil Supplies.
He has led cooperative institutions, including the Hukkeri Electricity Supply Cooperative Society and the Belagavi District Central Cooperative Bank and also sugar factories. He has attracted controversy by seeking statehood for North Karnataka, a few times.
The senior Lingayat leader had strongly opposed the demand for religion status for Lingayat. He has attributed his desire to become the Chief Minister of undivided Karnataka, to his habit of loud thinking.
Nippani MLA Shashikala Annasaheb Jolle is among the few women in leadership positions in the cooperative sector in the State. The 52-year-old leader is actively involved in the activities of Sahakara Bharati, an RSS-affiliated federation of cooperatives.
Along with her husband and Chikkodi MP Annasaheb, Ms. Shashikala Jolle runs the Beereshwara Multi-State Cooperative Society and the Jyoti Multi-Purpose Souharda Sahakari Society. The Beereshwara Cooperative Society has branches in Karnataka and Maharashtra and offers diversified financial services.
With assets of over ₹35 crore and liabilities of ₹16 crore, she is among the wealthiest women legislators in the State. She founded a school for physically challenged children in her home town of Examba two decades ago. The Lingayat leader regularly hosts cultural activities related to Sharanas and Vachana literature. She has denied allegations of bribery levelled against her by some TV channels in the supply of eggs to anganwadis in the State.
With the induction of Prabhu Chauhan, the BJP seemed to have filled the Lambani quota in the Cabinet. This reduced the chances of P. Rajeev of the Karnataka Lambani Tanda Development Corporation who was hoping to make it to the Ministry. The 44-year-old leader had made a few trips to Bengaluru and New Delhi to meet party leaders.
Belagavi South MLA Abhay Patil had refused to be appointed to boards and corporations saying he would prefer a Ministry. The student leader-turned-politician belongs to the Jain community. He told journalists a few weeks ago that he was a follower of former Union Minister Ananth Kumar and would like to be recognised for his merit.