10 defectors, who helped BJP, made Karnataka ministers

Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday rewarded with Cabinet berth 10 defectors, who helped the Bharatiya Janata Party bring down the Congress-Janat Dal Secualr coalition and come to power. 

The cabinet expansion led to dissatisfaction among a section of "native" BJP leaders who were left out of the exercise as the party sought to contain dissidence in the face of intense lobbying for berths by several contenders.

The then disqualified Congress-JDS MLAs who had shifted loyalty to the BJP and won the December by-elections, were sworn-in at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan with the governor Vajubhai Vala administering oath of office and secrecy.

The ten are: S T Somashekar (Yeshwantpur constituency), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Anand Singh (Vijayanagar), K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), Byrathi Basavaraj (K R Puram), A Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), B C Patil (Hirekerur), K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), K C Narayana Gowda (K R Pet) and Shrimant Balasaheb Patil (Kagwad).

Thursday's much-awaited expansion takes the strength of the Cabinet to 28, with six vacancies now.

In the first expansion last August, 17 Ministers were inducted.

Later speaking to reporters, chief minister B S Yediyurappa said the portfolios will be allotted before Saturday.

"Before Saturday the portfolios will be allotted and responsibilities will be given to them. Already the distribution of offices is in process," he said.

He also said he would visit Delhi to sort out the remaining issues.

However, it has not been decided yet when to go to the national capital but it depends on the convenience of 'Saheb' (party central leadership), the chief minister added.

The latest exercise wasn't a smooth affair for the chief minister and it was not without a twist.

Yediyurappa had announced on Sunday that 13 aspirants, including the 10 who were sworn-in on Thursday and three BJP old-timers would be inducted.

The three who were expected to get Cabinet berths were Umesh Katti, Arvind Limbavali and C P Yogeshwar.

Regarding ministerial berth to Hukkeri MLA Katti, who is upset at being denied a cabinet berth in the second expansion, Yediyurappa said, "I had already stated yesterday that we will 100 per cent make him a minister. It may take some time."

A section of the BJP had opposed making Yogeshwar a minister, pointing out that he had lost the assembly elections and is not a member of either House.

Late on Wednesday, Yediyurappa said induction of BJP old-timers had been put off following directions from the party's central leadership.

The decision to take none of the "native" BJP leaders into the Cabinet in the current round came after intense lobbying from several aspirants, which threatened to go out of hand at one stage, party sources said.

The ten newly-inducted Ministers were among the then 16 Congress-JDS MLAs who brought down the coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.

Among the disqualified MLAs, 13 had contested the by- polls in December and 11 had won.

The one who had been left out in the Cabinet expansion is Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli who has been promised by the chief minister "some other big responsibility."

Apparently displaying their resentment, Katti and Kumathalli skipped the swearing-in ceremony.

While Katti's name was doing rounds ever since the Chief Minister announced on Sunday that three old-timer BJP leaders would be inducted in his cabinet.

Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu, who had made no secret of his ambition to become a Deputy Chief Minister, was also conspicuous by his absence, along with Yogeshwar.

Kumathalli was aggrieved that he didn't secure a ministerial berth.

"It is difficult to make him (Mahesh Kumathalli) minister now. I will call him and discuss with him. We will try to give him some other big responsibility," Yediyurappa had said on Wednesday.

Sriramulu later clarified that there was no discord in the party and Yediyurappa was his leader.

He also said he was busy distributing invitations for his daughter's wedding and had sought the approval of the party leaders to skip the swearing-in ceremony.

"There is no discord in the party. As some people are building the narrative of native and outsider, I don't believe in such differentiation," Sriramulu told reporters.

There was a section within the BJP, especially M P Renukacharya, which opposed induction of Yogeshwar.

As Thursday's exercise was meant to honour the promise made to those who helped BJP come to power and make Yediyurappa chief minister, the caste consideration did not matter much.

After Thursday's expansion, the total number of ministers in the government reached 28, while there are six more vacancies to be filled as the sanctioned strength of ministers in Karnataka is 34.

According to the BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, there is another round of cabinet expansion on the anvil.

"We will certainly do it," he said when reporters asked him whether there was chance for cabinet expansion for the rest of the MLAs.

Reacting to the cabinet expansion, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said he is not happy that those who defected from Congress and the JD-S became ministers because it was "anti-democracy" and they had betrayed their parties.

"They had won the election and now became ministers, so I will congratulate them. I want them to do pro-people works," Siddaramaiah added.

When asked that his 'good-old friends' have become ministers, former chief minister and JD-S leader Kumaraswamy said, "I am happy. They had put in lots of efforts to fulfill their aspirations. Let them do some good work for the people."