Who will make it to the Cabinet of Siddaramaiah, who will be sworn in as the Chief Minister on Saturday, from Mandya, Chamarajnagar and Kodagu districts? The Congress put up an impressive performance in the elections and won 10 seats from the three districts.
The Congress won five out of seven seats in Mandya, three out of four seats in Chamarajnagar and both seats in Kodagu.
If the party bulldozed the JD(S) bastion in Mandya, the sugar bowl of Karnataka, it ended the two-decade long reign of BJP in hilly district Kodagu whereas the Congress strengthened its bastion in the border district of Chamarajnagar
Mandya
The Congress won in Nagamangala, Srirangapatna, Mandya, Maddur, and Malavalli constituencies. The party supported Sarvodaya Karnataka party candidate Darshan Puttanaiah in Melkote, who ended the JD(S) reign in the constituency winning the seat hands down.
While the Congress MLAs who won from Mandya and Maddur are newcomers, the others are relatively seniors.
Mandya had the sole representation in the Bommai Cabinet with K.C. Narayana Gowda, who defected to the BJP from the JD(S), being a Minister. In the poll, he was defeated from K.R. Pet by the JD(S) candidate.
The Ministerial hopefuls in Mandya include former Ministers N. Cheluvarayaswamy and P.M. Narendra Swamy, who have won from Nagamangala and Malavalli seats respectively. Both were said to be lobbying for Cabinet berths with their leaders. Both have the experience serving as Ministers in different governments in the past.
Chamarajanagar
C. Puttarangashetty, who defeated former Minister V. Somanna in Chamarajanagar, is a four-time MLA and a staunch follower of Mr. Siddaramaiah. In the high-voltage battle, Mr. Puttarangashetty, who was the Minister in JD(S) and Congress coalition government, won the battle against Mr. Somanna, who also lost the poll in Varuna against Mr. Siddaramaiah.
The four-time MLA is a strong Ministerial aspirant from the district and is said to have met the leaders, including AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge, seeking his inclusion in the new Cabinet.
In the Bommai government, Chamarajanagar had no representation with Mr. Somanna made the Minister in charge of the district.
A.R. Krishnamurthy, who won from Kollegal (reserved) constituency defeating former Minister N. Mahesh, has been in politics since the last two decades. The first-time MLA, who was in the BJP before joining the Congress, is the son of former Governor late B. Rachaiah. He is known for losing the election in the erstwhile Santhemarahalli in Chamarajanagar district by a single vote to the late R. Dhruvanarayan.
Kodagu
The Congress broke down the BJP’s reign in the coffee land with the party veterans and sitting MLAs Appachu Ranjan and K.G. Bopaiah were defeated by Mantar Gowda and A.S. Ponnanna in Madikeri and Virajpet seats respectively.
Kodagu was the BJP’s bastion for the last two decades. Anti-incumbency was another reason for the collapse of the BJP in the hill district.
The question is whether Mr. Siddaramaiah will consider giving representation to Kodagu in his Cabinet.
Mr. Ponnanna, a Kodava, won from a Kodava-dominated constituency. In view of Lok Sabha elections next year, the people in Kodagu, which is part of Mysuru-Kodagu constituency, are hoping that Kodagu is given importance and one of the two MLAs included in the Ministry, for taking up the cause of the land, and meeting the aspirations of the electorate.
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