Who's Who in Bommai's Cabinet: Portfolios Allocated, Turncoats Retain Their Say

Three days after they were sworn in, the 29 cabinet ministers in Karnataka got their portfolios. Most significantly, the ‘turncoat’ ministers who had defected from the Congress and JDS two years ago to facilitate the BJP to come to power managed to hold on to their previous plum portfolios.

In a move that shows their clear prioritisation and influence, ministers like K Sudhakar (health and Family Welfare), BC Patil (Agriculture), ST Somashekar (Cooperation), Byrati Basavaraj (Urban Development), k Gopalaiah (Excise) and Shivaram Hebbar (Labour), showed that they were getting their say all the way in the Basavaraj Bommai-led government as well.

One of them, Anand Singh — who had been given portfolios like Tourism and Environment earlier but whose portfolios were changed in January last — managed to get back his earlier portfolio, while KC Narayana Gowda, who was the sports and youth empowerment minister earlier, has got an additional portfolio (sericulture) this time — perhaps due to the fact that his region in known for its sericulture activity. MTB Nagaraj, who had been unhappy with his earlier portfolio of municipal administration, has been given an additional portfolio of small scale industries.

Two of the defectors who did not make it to the Bommai cabinet — Srimant Patil and R Shankar — and have been very unhappy thus far, have been promised good posts in other government-run boards and corporations. Their appointments are likely soon, as K Sudhakar, one of the leaders among the ‘turncoat’ group indicated.

“Our CM has taken stock of the situation, shortly, both who missed the bus will get their due share. This is assurance given, they would be given suitable positions,” Sudhakar told news 18.

Shankar, who had been elected in 2018 from his own small party called KPJP and had later supported the Congress-JDS coalition and been a minister, later joined the Congress and then quit that party and defected to the BJP. He did not fight a byelection as the others did, amid worries that he may lose, and was nominated as an MLC and given the horticulture portfolio in the Yediyurappa government.

This portfolio now goes to another turncoat, Muniratna, who had won a bypoll six months back from the RR Nagar constituency.

Among the turncoats, two others – Ramesh Jharkiholi and Mahesh Kumatalli, both from Belagavi — are without Cabinet berths. Jharkiholi, an influential leader from Gokak, had resigned as water resources minister after a CD surfaced earlier this year of him allegedly demanding sexual favours from a government job aspirant. The investigation into that CD is still going on. He was earlier a minister in the BSY cabinet until March 2021. This rather in-demand portfolio has gone to BJP loyalist and veteran Govind Karjol now.

Some of the seniors like R Ashoka (Revenue), KS Eshwarappa (Rural development and panchayat raj), Ashwath Narayan (IT and BT and Higher Education), V Somanna (Housing) and Umesh katti (Food and Civil Supplies) have retained their old portfolios as well.

JC Madhuswamy, who was law minister initially, and later minister for minor irrigation, has now bagged both portfolios. Prabhu Chauhan, the minister who took oath in the name of Gaumata (cows), retains the animal husbandry ministry.

Two other veterans — Sunil Kumar and CC Patil — get the plum Energy and Public Works portfolios, respectively. Sunil Kumar, who was the chief whip of the party in the Yediyurappa regime, also got the Kannada and culture portfolio additionally.

Murugesh Nirani, who was Mines minister earlier under BSY, is the new Industries minister as this portfolio was vacated by Jagadish Shettar, the party’s senior MLA and former CM from Hubli. Shettar had announced last week that he would opt out of the cabinet as he did not want to serve under a CM junior to him. The new Mines minister is Halappa Achar, a first time minister from north Karnataka.

The surprise factor though is in two allocations — Araga Jnanendra, a four-time MLA from Shimoga and first-time minister, has been made the Home Minister. The buzz is that this was a portfolio no one really wanted, and this was one of the reasons the portfolio allocation exercise took all of three days.

Typically, the Home minister, who heads the police department, is almost seen as second next to the CM — Bommai himself was Home Minister in the earlier government — but in recent years, the task has been more a decorative one that comes with huge responsibilities.

The other surprise is that Shashikala Jolle, the only woman minister, has not retained the woman and child development portfolio — she has been made minister for Muzrai and Haj and wakf. This may be partly due to allegations of her involvement in a corruption case over tendering process for buying eggs for anganwadis.

Kota Srinivas Poojari, the party MLC from coastal Karnataka region, who was earlier Muzrai minister, has been given the Social welfare portfolio that was earlier handled by the Valmiki community strongman from Ballari B Sreeraulu. Sreeramulu has been given the Transport portfolio instead, but also retains additionally the Scheduled Tribes Welfare wing of the Social welfare department that he has yielded to Poojari.

S Angara, the other minister from coastal Karnataka, gets fisheries and ports in his bag, while Shankar B Patil Munenakoppa gets the Textiles portfolio.

BC Nagesh, the new face in the cabinet from Tumkur, will be the new Primary and Secondary education minister, a post vacated by Suresh Kumar who was dropped from the cabinet. It will be Nagesh then who will have the huge task of finalising policies on reopening schools post-pandemic, reaching out to school dropouts, sorting out issues of fee collection by private schools when they finally open up, an issue that has been contorted by both emotional and legal tangles the last two years.

BSY to Enjoy Benefits of Cabinet Minister Rank

As most of the BSY-regime cabinet ministers retained their stay and say, Yediyurappa too will be enjoying all benefits of a cabinet minister for some more time.

An order from the department of personnel and administration reforms on Saturday, which is bound to raise eyebrows, stated that as long as the current chief minister holds the post, the immediate predecessor, BS Yediyurappa in this case, will enjoy all benefits of a cabinet minister rank.

BSY had, on July 26, resigned from the CM post to make way for a new chief minister to be appointed from the party. And all decisions of the party high command, be it regarding who the next CM will be or who will make it to the cabinet, have so far indicated that his wide influence in the party remains unhindered even after his exit.

Some Left Disgruntled

Barely two hours after the portfolio allocation, rumblings of dissent and anger began in many ministries.

MTB Nagaraj was the first to speak out publicly as he took to Twitter to threaten the government that he would “soon take a call” about his next move. Previously the housing minister in the Congress-JDS coalition government, he defected to the BJP along with 16 others help BJP snatch back power. Though he lost the by-election, he was made an MLC and a minister by BSY. He has for long expressed that he wanted a better portfolio than what he had to be content with.

A disconcerted MTB N Nagaraj said on Saturday, “Previous CM BSY jii and present CM Basavaraj Bommai jii have not kept their word. I am not happy with allotted portfolio. Will take a call in this regard in 2-3 days.”

A few others were unhappy, however, they did not speak out publicly.

Some in the loyal BJP camp too expressed disappointment in their close circles — Sriramulu , for instance, said he will be speaking to party seniors, while Anand Singh too is reportedly unhappy.

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