Bengaluru’s ministers may not get berths again

BENGALURU: Bengaluru city may have sent all its sitting ministers to the state assembly, but all of them may not return to the cabinet, with the Congress party’s overall strength in the house sliding from 123 to 78.

While 16 ministers in the Siddaramaiah government lost the elections, Bengaluru was the saving grace for the Congress. The city not just helped the party maintain its tally of 12 MLAs, but also voted all five ministers back. Housing minister M Krishnappa, who scraped through with a thin margin of 2,775 votes in Vijayanagar, K J George, who won with a huge majority of 53,304 votes in Sarvagnanagar, home minister Ramalinga Reddy (BTM Layout), agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda (Byatarayanapura), and information minister R Roshan Baig (Shivajinagar), who scored hat-tricks in their respective constituencies, are waiting to become ministers again.

However, senior Congress leaders who are bargaining hard for plum portfolios with alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular), said the party cannot accommodate all ministers who have been re-elected; at most, three will make the cut.

“We have to make adjustments as per the present equation. Our strength has come down and representation in the cabinet should be proportionate. This applies to Bengaluru ministers too, when we take regional balance into consideration,” said Madhu Yashki Goud, AICC secretary in-charge of Karnataka, who is part of the team which is number crunching for cabinet formation.

The Congress had a full strength of 34 ministers during the last regime, and has now agreed with the JD(S) for a 22:12 ratio in the coalition government. Party leaders said it’s a tough choice since the actual quota for Bengaluru is seven, considering that M R Seetharam and H M Revanna represented the Legislative Council in the cabinet.

The party high command also has to handle the demands of ministerial aspirants like Dinesh Gundu Rao, who was a minister before being appointed party working president in 2016, and S T Somashekhar, a Vokkaliga MLA from Yeshwanthpur, apart from the challenge of accommodating outgoing ministers.

“It is a legitimate demand that the city has to get its due share as it solidly supported the party in the elections. However, it is up to the party high command to take a call as they have to work out permutations and combinations in the prevailing situation,” said G Shekhar, president for Bengaluru Central District Congress Committee.

He said the party leadership has to strike a fine balance between factors involving caste and seniority. Among the former ministers, two are from the minority communities -- Muslim and Christian --and two are Vokkaligas. The expectation is that the Vokkaliga quota would be reduced to one.

Expressing hope that the party would reward him for his meritorious work as housing minister, Krishnappa said he was ready to serve the party in whatever capacity the high command deems fit.

“The performance of the housing ministry has been appreciated by people. We built 6 lakh houses for the poor, of which 1 lakh houses were in Bengaluru. As a disciplined party member, I am ready to abide by the high command,” said Krishnappa.