Karnataka portfolios: Siddaramaiah keeps Finance, Shivakumar gets Irrigation, Bengaluru development
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has allocated portfolios to ministers in his Cabinet, keeping the Finance department with himself while assigning the Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development departments to his deputy DK Shivakumar.
Siddaramaiah took the oath of office with Shivakumar and eight ministers on May 20. He subsequently expanded the Cabinet to its full strength by inducting 24 new ministers on Saturday after rounds of discussions with the Congress' central leadership.
G Parameshwara, who has previously handled the Home department, has once again been allocated the portfolio, MB Patil is the new Large and Medium Industries minister while KJ Geroge has been given the Energy department portfolio, the Karnataka government announced in a notification released late on Sunday.
Apart from the Finance department, the chief minister, who has presented 13 state budgets, has kept Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, IT and BT, Infrastructure Development and all unallocated portfolios.
Shivakumar has got the all-important Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Shivakumar, who hails from the neighbouring Ramanagara district, has been allocated the Bengaluru City Development department despite five MLAs from the city being ministers in the Cabinet. The portfolio is important keeping in mind the upcoming BBMP polls.
HK Patil has been allocated Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism while KH Muniyappa -- a former Union minister for whom this is the first stint in the state Cabinet -- is the new Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister.
Ramalinga Reddy has been made the minister for Transport and Muzrai. Amid speculation that Reddy did not want the Transport department, Shivakumar visited his residence and held discussions on Sunday evening.
Dinesh Gundu Rao is the Health and Family Welfare minister while HC Mahadevappa has been given charge of Social Welfare. Public Works has been allocated to Satish Jarakiholi and Revenue to Krishna Byregowda.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge is the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister, Shivanand Patil has been given Textiles, Sugarcane Development and the Directorate of Sugar, Agricultural Marketing from the Cooperation department.
BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan will take charge of Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare while Sharanabasappa Darshanapur has been allocated Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises. Forest, Ecology and Environment has gone to Eshwar Khandre, Agriculture to N Cheluvarayaswamy, Mines and Geology, Horticulture to SS Mallikarjun, Municipal Administration and Haj to Rahim Khan and Labour to Santhosh S Lad.
Laxmi R Hebbalkar, the lone woman in the Cabinet, will take charge of the Women and Child Development and the Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment portfolios and Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil has been allocated the Medical Education and Skill Development portfolio.
Other ministers and their departments include RB Timmapur (Excise), K Venkatesh (Animal Husbandry and Sericulture), Shivaraj Tangadagi (Backward Class, Kannada and Culture), D Sudhakar (Planning and Statistics), B Nagendra (Youth Services, Sports and ST Welfare), KN Rajanna (Co-operation), Suresha BS (Urban Development and Town Planning) and Mankal Vaidya (Fisheries and Ports, Inland Transport).
Madhu Bangarappa will take over the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, MC Sudhakar will take charge of Higher Education and NS Boseraju has been allocated Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology.
There was some disgruntlement within the Congress after the Cabinet expansion with several MLAs, who held aspirations of becoming ministers but missed out, having to be pacified by party leaders.
In the May 10 elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress bagged 135 seats while the BJP and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19, respectively.
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Delhi Polls: BJP faces protest, placates MLA amid resentment over ticket distribution
New Delhi, Jan 12: Resentment surfaced in the BJP on Sunday over ticket distribution for Delhi Assembly polls, with a protest held outside its Delhi unit office and an angry outburst by the outgoing MLA from Karawal Nagar who was not included in the candidate list released a day earlier.
As MLA Mohan Singh Bisht threatened to revolt after being denied a ticket from Karawal Nagar, the party rushed to control the damage and announced his candidature from the Mustafabad seat this evening.
A group of protesters from Tughlakabad in South Delhi held a dharna at the gate of the Delhi BJP office, demanding a change in the candidate from the constituency.
"Vikram Bidhuri Tum Sangharsh Karo; Modi Se Bair Nahi, Rohtas Teri Khair Nahi," the protesters, including mostly youngsters, chanted as the party leaders tried to pacify them.
In the second list of BJP candidates for the polls declared on Saturday, Rohtas Bidhuri was fielded from the Tughlakabad seat. In 2020 Assembly polls, Vikram Bidhuri who is a relative of senior party leader Ramesh Bidhuri, lost to AAP's Sahiram by over 13,000 votes.
A similar protest was also held by some party workers outside the Delhi BJP office against Mehrauli candidate Gajainder Yadav after the announcement of the first list of candidates earlier this month.
Bisht, the senior-most BJP MLA in the outgoing Assembly elected five times from Karawal Nagar, openly expressed unhappiness over being denied the ticket to contest from his stronghold.
A senior party leader said he was pacified after a meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda.
Bisht, after getting the ticket from Mustafabad, expressed confidence that he would win the seat for the BJP.
"I met the national president and things were ironed out. I have assured that I will contest from Mustafabad and win the seat for the party," Bisht told PTI.
The MLA said he and the BJP had considerable support in Mustafabad and he has already attended two public meetings there.
The BJP won the Mustafabad seat, having a significant minority community presence, in the 2015 Assembly polls but lost it to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2020.
Earlier in the day, Bisht told PTI that the party's decision to replace him with Kapil Mishra was "wrong" and its consequences will be visible after voting on February 5.
"You have challenged the 'samaj' (his Uttarakhandi community), not Mohan Singh Bisht. The BJP will lose at least 8-10 seats because of this decision, including Karawal Nagar, Burari, Mustafabad and Gokalpuri," Bisht warned.
The BJP fielded Kapil Mishra, a Hindutva hardliner, from Karwal Nagar in North East Delhi, which was rocked by massive communal violence just after the 2020 Assembly polls.
Sources in the party claimed that there was also "deep resentment" among the Delhi BJP's Scheduled Castes Morcha leaders over being denied tickets from different constituencies including Madipur and Kondli.
A top Delhi BJP functionary stressed that there are many ticket aspirants, so it is natural for those who did not get selected to feel disappointed.
"The BJP is a disciplined party and its leaders understand this. Sooner or later, everyone will realise this and work for the victory of the party giving up their resentment," he said.
The elections to 70 Assembly seats in Delhi are scheduled on February 5. Results will be out after the counting of votes on February 8.
The BJP, out of power in Delhi since 1998, is making all-out efforts to return to power. In the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, the party was completely routed by the AAP, scraping through with just three and eight seats, respectively.
