BENGALURU: A day after appointments to 20 boards and corporations, dissenting voices are slowly fizzling out as realisation has dawned on the MLAs that there are no takers for their tantrums. So most appointees have either voluntarily agreed to take charge or have been asked to cut out the fuss by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s close circle. As for the few who are still sulking, a call from Yediyurappa is expected to do the trick. With Yediyurappa ensuring that State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel is on the same page on appointments, dissenters see no choice but to accept the appointments else lose out on the  positions.

“Although I would have liked to be in the cabinet, I understand the circumstances under which the party came to power. I will not create a fuss or reject the post and embarrass the government and the Chief Minister,” said Araga Jnanendra, appointed as the chief of Karnataka Housing Board. A majority of the appointments made on Monday are MLAs from North Karnataka and a sizeable chunk from the Lingayat community -- most seen as close to Yediyurappa. “I will take charge in the first week of August. Will meet the Chief Minister when I visit Bengaluru,” said former minister Kalakappa Bandi now appointed as Chief of KSSIDC.

Many MLAs who had expressed displeasure or had chosen to maintain a defiant silence over their appointments have now come to accept the posts after conversations with Yediyurappa’s close circle including his sons, political secretaries and advisers.“Even if disappointed MLAs were to form a group and rebel, what will they achieve? BJP is in power and we are aware of how we came to power. At least MLAs are being given some posts if not a cabinet berth,” said a BJP office-bearer underlining the helplessness of the MLAs. Yediyurappa is said to have assured to appoint party workers in the next round of postings to boards and corporations which Kateel agreed to.

Savadi’s visit to Delhi not seen as threat
While rumour mills are abuzz with social media posts depicting Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi as the next CM, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is said to be unperturbed by it. While Laxman Savadi made his absence from the event marking Yediyurappa’s one year in office conspicuous and shared photos of his meetings with Union ministers in New Delhi on the same day, sources close to Yediyurappa suggest that the development is not being viewed as a threat to the CM’s chair. Savadi is said to have kept the CM in the loop about his New Delhi visit and that he would give the celebrations a miss. Even as the Chief Minister’s aides suggest that Savadi’s Delhi visits aren’t a threat, a section of BJP leaders are viewing it as the DCM’s desperate attempt to save his head from the chopping block during the next cabinet rejig.