More than two weeks after BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa took oath as Karnataka chief minister, the state’s cabinet has still not been formed. The BJP took over after 16 MLAs of the Congress-JD(S) alliance rebelled and H.D. Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote 99-105 in the assembly on 23 July.
ThePrint asks: Delay in Yediyurappa cabinet formation – Is Karnataka not a priority for the BJP?
Focus now on tackling flood menace, so unfair to say Karnataka not priority for BJP
Sudhanshu Mittal
Spokesperson, BJP
It is unfair to say that Karnataka is not a priority for the BJP. Right now, the priority is to tackle the floods in Karnataka. The death toll has reached 40 while many people have been evacuated and sent to relief camps. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded red alert with heavy downpour expected to continue for the next four to five days. Our main focus is to make sure that the people of Karnataka are safe.
I am sure the cabinet formation will take place after the flood menace is under control and normalcy has been restored. However, it is important to note that Karnataka’s politics is currently unstable and forming a cabinet will not be an easy task. It is a challenge and we will have to be very careful about it. You cannot run a government without a cabinet. I think it is unfair and cynical to question the government’s priorities at this point. After we have dealt with the issue at hand, I can assure you that the cabinet formation will take place.
People in Karnataka have realised they won’t get any help from BJP govt
Veerappa Moily
Former CM of Karnataka
Clearly, it seems that Karnataka is not a priority for the BJP. The floods have been ravaging the state for the past one week, but the BJP government in Karnataka has done nothing about it. Instead, it has whiled away its time.
Karnataka first faced drought and then floods in a disaster that we had not seen in our lives earlier. People have lost their lives and properties worth Rs 30,000 crore have been lost.
Yediyurappa has time to transfer IPS/IAS officers and district officials. But if these officials are being transferred at the drop of a hat, how will they work for people and help those affected? How will the district officials carry out the work at relief camps and help relocate people if they are being shifted like this?
When we faced floods during the UPA regime in 2009, then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then-Union home minister P. Chidambaram had conducted the aerial survey for inspection, and released Rs 2,000 crore immediately for relief operations. But the Modi government has only released Rs 128 crore. What sort of governance is this? They should have addressed it as a war-like situation.
Problems will not end even after the floods recede. People are desperate and have realised that the BJP will not do anything. They are now looking up to God for help and not at the government. What the BJP has done is a monumental blunder.
Also read: Amit Shah to conduct aerial survey as death toll in Karnataka floods rises to 31
BJP high command asked Yediyurappa to prioritise flood issue & then focus on cabinet formation
Prakash. S
BJP Karnataka Spokesperson
The main reason why the cabinet formation in Karnataka has got delayed is the floods. Yediyurappa had gone to Delhi to discuss Karnataka’s cabinet formation, but the flood situation in the state had taken a turn for the worse right then. It was the BJP high command that asked him to prioritise the flood problem and then shift focus to the cabinet formation.
It is important to note that the flood relief work is not dependent on selection of cabinet ministers and is being carried out smoothly despite the delay in the former. It is mainly the deputy commissioner and the police who have to carry out the relief work on the ground. The ministers only provide guidance.
Each government prioritises issues differently. The abrogation of Article 370 had a higher priority, especially considering security needs to be maintained ahead of Independence Day. However, the matter of cabinet formation is between Yediyurappa and Union home minister Amit Shah. On 16 August, Yediyurappa will visit Delhi and discuss the cabinet issue with the BJP high command.
Karnataka was never a priority for BJP, which used it only to make inroads in the south
Tanveer Ahmed
Spokesperson, JD(S)
Karnataka was never a priority for the BJP. The party has only used Karnataka as a gateway to make inroads in the south. Now that it has established a foothold in the region, the BJP does not care much. If it was really interested in serving the people of Karnataka as it claims, then it could have easily tackled issues like the Mahadayi river dispute with Maharashtra and Goa, or the Cauvery dispute with Tamil Nadu. They were ruling at the Centre and also had their governments in Goa and Maharashtra.
The central BJP leadership is forgetting today that when four-time CM Yediyurappa was a leader in the state, Amit Shah was not even a full-time karyakarta. Yediyurappa is a born leader and disrespecting him is like disrespecting the people of Karnataka. This really shows how the BJP is disregarding its senior leaders and the people who elect them. Yediyurappa should understand that he is being used. It would have been better if the cabinet was in place by now, since it would have helped in delegating work to the ministers, and people would know whom to approach for their issues. With a one-man army called Yediyurappa, how much work do you expect to get done?
Also read: The IAS officer 6 Karnataka CMs couldn’t do without takes charge of CCD
It’s unfortunate that cabinet formation has become a secondary issue for BJP in Karnataka
Harish Ramaswamy
Political analyst
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government, with its comfortable majority, is busy with big ticket decisions while the economy is dwindling. It is unfortunate that the flood situation in Karnataka has dominated its attention while forming the cabinet has become a secondary issue. It is evident that the BJP is not very happy with Yediyurappa’s choice to make Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri the Karnataka assembly Speaker. It is clear that the BJP is not happy with its state leadership in Karnataka.
Having said that, I believe that the BJP is searching for an alternative to Yediyurappa from among leaders of other major communities in the state. This is adding to the delay in cabinet formation. However, it will not be an easy exercise to find an alternative to Yediyurappa. So, the party, for the time being, has to be content with the current leadership and make use of the opportunity it has got. The BJP needs to strengthen itself before it’s time for the next assembly elections.
By Revathi Krishnan, Rohini Swamy, and Taran Deol
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