Yediyurappa reshuffles portfolios for the 2nd time in 24 hours to stamp out dissidence

Four ministers, including a new inductee, had expressed dissatisfaction with the departments handed to them, and didn’t attend a cabinet meeting Thursday.

File image of B.S. Yediyurappa | Photo: ANI

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has shuffled the members of his cabinet for the second time in 24 hours, in the face of dissidence from several ministers.

Seven new ministers were inducted in a cabinet expansion on 13 January, and fresh portfolios were announced for several serving ministers Thursday too. However, four of them — newcomer M.T.B. Nagaraj and existing members of the cabinet J.C. Madhuswamy, Dr K. Sudhakar and K. Gopalaiah — publicly expressed dissatisfaction with their allotments, and further embarrassed the government by not attending a cabinet meeting held Thursday.

A minister who did not want to be named told ThePrint that both Yediyurappa and Revenue Minister R. Ashok requested these ministers to attend the meeting over the phone, but “they did not budge. One of them did not even pick the phone call made by the CM”.

What the ministers say

According to the new notification issued Friday, Madhuswamy, Nagaraj, Sudhakar and Gopalaiah have been handed additional departments.

Madhuswamy, who became a minister with the formation of the Yediyurappa government in 2019, held the law, parliamentary affairs, legislation and minor irrigation portfolios until the 21 January reshuffle. He was then put in charge of the medical education department, but has now been given additional charge of the haj and wakf board department.

“I have nothing to say about the matter. I have conveyed what I have to say to the CM. As of now, I will continue my work with what I have been allocated,” Madhuswamy told ThePrint.

Nagaraj, the fresh inductee, was initially given the plum excise department, but has now been allocated municipal administration, as well as sugarcane development and the directorate of sugar from the industries and commerce department.

Instead, the excise department has been handed over to Gopalaiah, who became a minister last year after jumping ship from the JD(S), and previously served as the food and civil supplies minister before being handed the relatively low-profile horticulture and sericulture departments Thursday.

“I am happy with what I’ve been given now. I have been given a very important portfolio. Be it M.T.B. Nagaraj, R. Shankar or Narayan Gowda, we have accepted our responsibilities,” Gopalaiah told ThePrint.

The fourth angry minister, former Congress leader K. Sudhakar, has been credited for the way he handled the Covid-19 pandemic as the minister for health and medical education. However, the latter department was taken away from him Thursday, leaving him upset.

“Initially, it was difficult to handle the medical education and health portfolios together, as they were being managed by two different ministers. The Covid situation was controlled after putting both departments under one minister,” Sudhakar told ThePrint.

“I will speak to the CM once again… Administrative issues should not become a hurdle during the world’s largest Covid vaccination drive. I will once again request the CM to allocate both ministries to a single person,” he said.

Political messaging

There are two key messages emerging from Yediyurappa’s latest portfolio distribution, according to BJP leaders and political observers.

Political analyst Mahadeva Prakash pointed out: “Notice that some top ministries have been taken away from those who have headed them till now. By doing so, and giving them to the new ministers, Yediyurappa has managed to keep them happy, as they had waited for more than 17 months to be inducted as ministers. This is their reward for being patient.”

BJP spokesperson S. Prakash concurred. “The CM thought there was a need for slight changes and he made it. The new MLAs have waited for 17 months; they had to be given good ministries,” he said of the latest rejig.

However, Yediyurappa continues to keep a few key portfolios with him, in case he has to hand them out to quell more discontent. The much talked-about Bengaluru development ministry is being held by the CM as the open tussle between Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Revenue Minister R. Ashok has created more embarrassment for the BJP government.

The other message is that the BJP high command’s promise of a ‘free hand’ to Yediyurappa to take care of dissidence, given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on a tour of Karnataka last week, is for real.

“Amit Shah was very clear when he asked the CM to ensure that the issues are resolved in the state itself; he does not want upset leaders lining up at the senior leaders’ doorsteps in Delhi. It had become a way of dramatising any situation, and the party high command has had enough of it. They have empowered the CM to take a call,” said a senior BJP leader.

Mahadeva Prakash said Yediyurappa wants to remain in power, and is ready to compromise. “There are two things — one is power politics and the other is running a government based on the principle of good governance. Yediyurappa wants to be in power come what may; he is ready to compromise,” the analyst said.

Another analyst, Sandeep Shastri, said what’s happening now in terms of portfolios being reassigned is a repeat of Yediyurappa’s 2008-10 tenure as CM, when his government was built on luring rebels from other parties.

“Once they (ministers) find that they can gain by protesting, it becomes a situation like riding a tiger you can’t dismount. If you have a CM who keeps responding to threats and pressure from his colleagues, their desires will set the course for the government,” Shastri said.