Nearly a month after taking oath and winning a trust vote, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has still not managed to finalise the Cabinet of Ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government. The fact that it has managed to fill only 17 of a maximum of 34 Ministers and only announced portfolios on Monday suggests that the Chief Minister has been walking on eggshells to accommodate various interests. That cabinet formation has taken so long should not come as any surprise to those following the political events in Karnataka over the last three months. A prolonged political crisis led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) regime; the BJP’s ascension to power was made possible by a rebellion within the coalition’s ranks. The 17 MLAs who were subsequently disqualified for their actions are waiting to know the fate of their challenge to the then Speaker’s order in the Supreme Court. But they will be encouraged about their prospect of becoming Ministers if the induction of H. Nagesh, an independent MLA who was a Minister in the previous regime, is any indication. The fact that two among the newly inducted Ministers were not even MLAs, but BJP leaders who played an important role in facilitating these defections also suggests that some of the rebels could be expected to be given berths. But the delay in cabinet formation is not just due to issues related to accommodating these turncoats.
The State BJP has been overly reliant on the party centre to give it direction on every step it has taken so far since the Chief Minister took oath. With the BJP enjoying only a wafer thin majority in the Assembly, the responsibility to ensure a tight ship has fallen upon the powerful party centre led by senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The appointment of three Deputy Chief Ministers belonging to various influential communities was clearly meant to accommodate alternative centres of power and to diversify the support base. This does not seem to be Mr. Yediyurappa’s preference, if his public utterances over the matter are any indication. But the party centre’s calling the shots seems to be leaving him with little choice. The BJP prided itself as a party that accorded greater autonomy to its regional leaders to handle such matters, but in Karnataka today, it is a throwback to the old Congress system with the evident preponderance of the party high command. Whether these steps lead to a balance of interests or to fresh disaffection remains to be seen. But the net result of these political shenanigans has been a prolonged stasis in governance as is visible in the laggardly work done in rehabilitation and reconstruction in parts of Karnataka that are reeling from the after-effects of debilitating floods.
