The proposed reconstitution of the ministry under new Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has once again revived hopes of representation for Mysuru and adjoining districts of Chamarajanagar and Kodagu in the government.
The three districts went without any representationduring the last two years of BJP rule under B.S. Yediyurappa.
The BJP has three MLAs in Mysuru district including S.A. Ramdas, who had served as Minister for Medical Education in the erstwhile BJP Government, two in Kodagu district and one in Chamarajanagar. Yet, the region received no representation.
While adjoining Hassan district too went without any representation, Mandya district, however, received representation when K.C. Narayana Gowda, who was among the 17 MLAs from other parties to join the BJP, won from K.R. Pet Assembly constituency and became a Minister in the Yediyurappa government.
Mysuru district had MLAs from Bengaluru – V. Somanna and S.T. Somashekar – as the district-in-charge Ministers since the Yediyurappa government came to power two years ago.
Barring Mr. Ramdas, three out of the four BJP MLAs in Mysuru and Chamajaranagar district are first-time MLAs - Nagendra representing Chamaraja, Harshavardhan representing Nanjangud,and Niranjan Kumar from Gundlupet.
However, neighbouring Kodagu district is represented by two veteran BJP politicians in the Assembly – former Speaker K.G. Bopaiah and five-time MLA Appachu Ranjan.
While Mr. Ramdas has articulated his aspiration for a ministerial berth several times in the past by citing the need for regional representation from the perspective of regional development, Nanjangud MLA Harshavardhan is also hopeful of securing a berth.
Mr. Harshavardhan, who is also the son-in-law of former Minister and veteran Dalit leader V. Srinivas Prasad, hopes to make it to the ministry if the party leadership decides to ask senior leaders to make way for new faces.
However, political circles are agog with discussions on how the ruling party faces the same political compulsions that Mr. Yediyurappa had to encounter during his regime. The issue of regional representation may have to be sacrificed yet again at the altar of political exigencies that includes priority to accommodate the new entrants from other parties, who had facilitated the formation of the party government two years ago, said a BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “The pact new-comers had with Mr. Yediyurappa will continue in the ministry to be formed by Mr. Bommai”. BJP leaders argued that the political exigencies and caste calculations may outweigh regional representation again.
However, BJP’s Mysuru City spokesperson Mohan M.A. said the party was hopeful of securing representation in the proposed ministry under Mr. Bommai.
