Bengaluru: A little over two weeks after the Congress secured a thumping majority in this month’s Karnataka assembly elections, portfolios were finally assigned to around 34 ministers in the newly-formed state cabinet, after state Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot approved the list in the early hours of Monday.
While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has kept the finance portfolio for himself, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar got irrigation and Bengaluru City development departments.
Siddaramaiah will also head the intelligence, personnel and administrative affairs, electronics information technology biotechnology (IT/BT) and infrastructure development departments, as well as all other unallocated portfolios.
G. Parameshwara, who held the home portfolio in the previous Siddaramaiah government between 2015 and 2017, has retained it in the new cabinet.
The Bengaluru City development portfolio, secured by Shivakumar, is an important one, as the city of Bengaluru is the highest revenue generator in Karnataka and among the biggest in the country.
During the past four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, spanning 2019 to 2013, this particular portfolio had been retained by the CM.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body) has been without an elected council since September 2020 and Shivakumar will now be in-charge of all agencies related to India’s IT capital, including Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), Bengaluru Metro, city corporation, sewerage board and others.
Elections to the Karnataka assembly were held on 10 May, and the announcement of results on 13 May — Congress won 135 of 224 assembly seats — was followed by about four days of intense discussions on deciding the CM, with supporters of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar pushing for their respective leader.
Though there is said to be an understanding that Shivakumar will take over the reins of the government after about two years, the party high command has made no official announcement to this effect, people aware about the situation told ThePrint.
This has already added to growing tensions between the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar-led camps. Party sources told ThePrint that the battle for dominance continued with supporters of the CM and deputy CM claiming a higher representation from their respective camps in the newly-formed cabinet.
According to the sources, Siddaramaiah has managed to get several of his supporters key portfolios. even though the opposing camp refused to acknowledge this.
“We got about 32-33 [ministers] of our list approved,” said a Siddaramaiah supporter, requesting anonymity.
The Shivakumar camp, however, offered a different calculation.
“We got around 10 of our people in, and the same number is true of Siddaramaiah as well. There are some members, like M.B. Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda, H.K. Patil, Priyank Kharge, among others, who are high-command appointees,” said a person from the Shivakumar camp, requesting anonymity.
ThePrint has reached Shivakumar for comment on call and text message, the copy will be updated once a comment is received.
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Battle over portfolios
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had locked horns over the CM’s post, with the latter conceding the post to Siddaramaiah after a “verbal assurance” that he would take over the reins after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to sources.
In order to break the deadlock, the party high command offered Shivakumar perks such as retaining the post of president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and being the only deputy CM in the state.
However, the rivalry between the two spilled over to the cabinet appointments as well, according to sources.
The Siddaramaiah supporter quoted above said that the IT/BT portfolio, currently under the CM, will be given out to another cabinet member, as some changes were expected in the allocations, with two vacancies remaining.
People who were perceived as siding with Siddaramaiah in his battle with Shivakumar — like MLAs N. Chaluvaraya Swamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, Ramalinga Reddy, K.J. George, Satish Jarkiholi and several others — have bagged key portfolios.
“Other than Laxmi Hebbalkar and M.C. Sudhakar, most of the ministers are on our side,” the person quoted above said, a claim dismissed by the Shivakumar camp.
Among other cabinet appointees, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son, Priyank Kharge, received the rural development and panchayat raj portfolios, while Satish Jarkiholi and Ramalinga Reddy have been given the public works department and transport portfolios, respectively.
Krishna Byre Gowda, meanwhile, has been entrusted with the revenue department.
The new ministers of the Siddaramaiah government have their work cut out for them as it will first have to find ways to fulfil its guarantees, which include 200 units of free power, Rs 2,000 for every woman-headed household, Rs 1,500-3,000 for unemployed graduates and diploma holders and 10 kg free rice.
The chief minister has said that these schemes will cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore annually, and the government will have to cut down on “wasteful expenditure” to fund them.
Meanwhile, political experts and Opposition parties have already upped the ante against the Congress over the financial impact these schemes can have on the state.
Several leaders of the Opposition, like former CM Basavaraj Bommai and H.D. Kumaraswamy, have said that the Congress is delaying its poll promise. Bommai even called the Congress government “reverse gear” since they were backtracking on their promises.
A section of Opposition members has also asked the people of their constituencies and other parts not to pay electricity bills since the Congress government has guaranteed 200 units of free power.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also read: From shepherd to Karnataka chief minister, again — a look at Siddaramaiah’s political journey