Karnataka ministry expanded, move sets off huge discontent in Congress
Bengaluru, Dec 22: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday expanded his six-month old cabinet, inducting eight members from the Congress in the much-awaited exercise marked by rumblings of dissidence.
Two ministers Ramesh Jarkiholi (Municipal Administration) , accused of hobnobbing with the BJP, and R Shankar (Forest and Environment),an Independent lawmaker who showed reluctance to be an associate member of the Congress, were dropped in the rejig, the chief minister's office said.
The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Glass House at Raj Bhavan by Governor Vajubhai Vala amid open expression of dissent by several Congress legislators who were left out of the exercise.
The new inductees are: Satish Jarkiholi, M B Patil, C S Shivalli, M T B Nagaraj, E Tukaram, P T Parameshwar Naik, Rahim Khan and R B Thimmapur, with seven of them picked from north Karnataka to address concerns of the region and counter the BJP in its area of influence.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had given the go ahead for the rejig Friday night after the state party leaders and AICC incharge of Karnataka K C Venugopal met him and discussed the issue that had been hanging fire for long.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has allegedly been cosy with BJP leaders and not attending cabinet and party meetings, has been replaced by his brother Satish Jarkiholi.
Ramesh Jarkiholi has been claiming support of a sizeable chunk of party MLAs and had come under the party scanner over reports that the BJP was trying to tap him to remove the Kumaraswamy government.
The names of Jarkiholi and Shankar have been recommended to the governor for being dropped, the chief minister's office said.
Congress' coalition partner JD(S) was not part of this round of cabinet expansion and it is likely to induct new ministers from its side post 'Sankranti' (mid-January), party sources said.
According to the pact between the two at the time of formation of the coalition government in May, there were six vacant ministerial slots for Congress and two for JD(S).
This is the second expansion of the 26-member Kumaraswamy ministry.
With the cabinet expansion being deferred repeatedly, several aspirants, especially those from Congress, had openly expressed their displeasure over the delay, piling pressure on the party to fill its quota so as to avoid any trouble ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
As the list of probable ministers came out, lawmakers who were aspirants for ministerial berths, came out openly, giving vent to their displeasure over being kept out.
Sowmya Reddy (MLA), daughter of senior Congress MLA and former minister Ramalinga Reddy, expressed resentment over her father not being considered for the post, pointing out his contribution for the party's growth in Bengaluru city.
Reddy's supporters staged a protest a in front of the KPCC state headquarters here and tried to march to Raj Bhavan while the swearing-in ceremony was underway.
Sowmya said she had declined the post of parliamentary secretary.
Another aspirant and Hirekerur MLA B C Patil is also unhappy over not being considered for any ministerial post.
His supporters even staged a protest in his constituency. "I don't know the reason, but I have not got (ministerial post) this time also," he said.
On his next course of action, Patil said he would follow party workers' directions and work for his constituency's development.
Another Congress MLA B K Sangamesh from Bhadravathi, said he was the lone party legislator from Shivamogga district, the stronghold of BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, and said Siddaramaiah had promised to make him a minister.
He said he would decide his further course of action after discussions with party workers and resign if they they asked him to do so.
Hagaribommanahalli MLA Bheema Naik hit out at the party leadership for giving chance to Parameshwar Naik and neglecting him.
Many senior congress MLAs were also reportedly miffed over their exclusion. As the voice of dissent became shrill, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao warned that the party would not brook any indiscipline.
"Indiscipline or speaking against the party will not be tolerated. We have shown tolerance but it will not be possible to continue with the same..we will enforce discipline." However, he did not foresee any problem as a fallout of Saturday's exercise.
The KPCC chief also sought to placate the disgruntled MLAs, saying the party would evaluate the performance of ministers after Lok Sabha polls, when the ministry would have completed one year and drop those found not upto the mark and give chance to aspirants in their place.
Reacting to the exercise, senior BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa said the disgruntlement would "explode", as there are too many aspirants.
"In my opinion, dropping of Ramesh Jarkiholi would have repercussions. Let's wait and see what will happen," he added.
Ruling out any attempts by BJP to take advantage of the situation, Yeddyurappa said, "we have 104 MLAs, we will work as opposition. We are watching the situation about confusion between Congress and JD(S) and its repercussions.
We will call our legislature party meeting later and discuss with our high command on what step we should take."
In tandem with cabinet expansion, Congress has recommended appointment of 19 legislators as heads to boards and corporations and nine as parliamentary secretaries to ministers, besides three others as political secretary to the chief minister, state special representative to Delhi and deputy chairman of the state planning commission.
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Constitution amendment bill defeat was BJP’s first embarrassment in Parliament: Margaret Alva
Bengaluru (PTI): Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva on Monday said that the constitution amendment bill's defeat in the Lok Sabha on April 17 was the first embarrassment faced by the BJP-led government in Parliament.
She also alleged that the BJP has no real concern regarding women’s reservation.
The opposition INDIA bloc defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill that sought to facilitate the implementation of women's reservation by expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha, apart from making changes to delimitation.
"This is the first embarrassment and defeat faced by the NDA government in the Lok Sabha," the former Governor of Gujarat and Rajasthan said in a press conference here.
According to her, the women’s reservation has been under discussion since the time of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, a 14-member committee was formed, and I was appointed as its chairperson. We prepared a report after studying what needed to be done to enhance the dignity of women across 12 sectors. This was submitted to the government in 1989,” Alva, 84-year-old veteran Congress leader, said.
She said political empowerment for women was emphasised in that report, without which, empowerment in any other sphere is not possible.
“Many people in Parliament used to question me — should we vacate seats for women and stay at home cooking? Why insist on this? Has anyone written these seats in your name? This debate has been ongoing since 1975,” Alva explained.
The Congress leader said Rajiv Gandhi had introduced 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies.
“At that time, all opposition parties united and defeated the Bill,” she pointed out.
Again, during the tenure of former Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao, the 33 per cent reservation Bill in local bodies was passed.
“It was the Congress party that first introduced women’s reservation. Now they are falsely accusing us of being anti-women,” Alva charged.
In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed with much fanfare, but it was not immediately implemented.
According to her, a condition was imposed for its implementation that it would be enforced based on census data.
"Once it is in the statute book, what is preventing its implementation? Two years for the census and another two years for delimitation — this means it cannot be implemented by 2029. It was not given in 2024, and there is no possibility even in 2029," Alva charged the BJP-led government at the Centre.
The Congress leader said the BJP is saying that the Bill can be implemented based on the 2011 Census, but when the same suggestion was made in 2023, the BJP rejected it.
On increasing the Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent, she sought to know the basis for it.
“Where did this (idea) come from? Whose advice was taken? Was it decided by the RSS? Or ordered by a court?” Alva asked.
The former union minister said the Constitution amendment bill, which was defeated on April 17 appears to favour certain North Indian states.
“We pay taxes, but they receive greater benefits and allocations. If seats are increased by 50 per cent based on their calculations, we would get only 14 additional seats, while they would get 40. How is this fair?” she questioned.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-third majority.
According to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to "operationalise" the women's reservation act before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and Union territory Assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
