Party seniors Deshpande & Hariprasad likely to be inducted in cabinet

Shyam Sundar Vattam

Mysuru

Senior Congress leader R.V.Deshpande and MLC B.K.Hariprasad are likely to make entry into the two-year old Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

In fact, Deshpande who has been elected to the State Legislative Assembly for a record eight times, was supposed to join the State Cabinet in 2023 but missed the bus since Mankalu Vaidya had to be given the ministerial berth in the Uttara Kannada district quota. Whenever the Congress came to power in the state, Deshpande had been in the State and enjoyed Large and Medium Scale Industries ministry. For the first time, Deshpande missed the ministerial berth and instead given the post of vice-chairman of the State Planning Board. Thanks to his proximity with the Delhi leaders, this time, he is likely to make inroads into the Cabinet.

Another Congress leader who had been in national politics and nominated to Rajya Sabha for two or three terms and enjoyed a top post in AICC for very long time, may join the Siddaramaiah cabinet if everything goes well. As a prelude to his entry into the Cabinet, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah went to his house personally and spent around one hour for an important discussion as per the direction from the party high command. The duo had a secret meeting and discussed the current political situation in the state.

In the present situation in Coastal Karnataka, the ruling party lacked good leaders in Dakshina Kannada to take on the BJP leaders. Though, Hariprasad hails from Shivamogga district, he belongs to the Ediga community which has a sizeable number in the coastal district. The CM wants to induct Hariprasad into the Council of Ministers and appoint him as ruling party leader in the Upper House. By doing this, the existing house leader and Science and Technology Minister Bose Raju will be made the Council Chairman since the Congress party got majority in that house. The incumbent chairman, Basavaraja Horatti who had been the presiding officer of the House, would be forced to step down once the Congress party stakes claim for the position upon securing majority in the Legislative Council.

Sources close to the CM told that this was one of the agendas with which the CM has gone to Delhi to meet AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and Opposition leader in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and seek permission for the Cabinet reshuffle. By undertaking this exercise, the CM wants to strengthen his position as well as quell dissatisfaction among the MLAs for not making them the ministers. Important among them are; Basavaraja Rayaraddi, Tanveer Sait, A.S.Patil Nadahalli, B.Nagendra and C.S.Nadgouda. A majority of them have been silenced by giving them the post of chairmen of various boards and corporations. The induction of only Deshpande and Hariprasad may trigger dissidence within the party and in that case it would be very difficult for the CM to handle them as he was already in a neck-deep trouble. The right choice before Siddaramaiah is to go for a thorough Cabinet reshuffle or postpone it by some more months to allow the situation to become normal.