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Demand for more Dy. CM posts: CM urges Ministers not to make public statements
Repeated statements on Deputy Chief Minister posts being seen as negatively impacting government and party’s image among public
The simmering discontent in the ruling Congress over “sharing of power”, by naming more Deputy Chief Ministers on caste lines, seems to have added tension among Cabinet colleagues in the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka, as Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna engaged in a public duel through the media. This prompted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to speak to Mr. Rajanna and ask him not to air his views in public.
While the demand for additional Deputy Chief Ministers have found support among a few Cabinet ministers, mostly supporters of the Chief Minister, it is being viewed as a measure to counter-balance the influence of incumbent Mr. Shivakumar, who is currently the lone one occupying the post. After B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Satish Jarkiholi, and Mr. Rajanna, Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa on Thursday also supported the idea of more Deputy Chief Ministers
Negative impact
On Thursday, Mr. Siddaramaiah is learnt to have urged the Ministers not to issue public statements on the issue. In particular, he is learnt to have spoken to Mr. Rajanna, who started the debate months before the Lok Sabha elections and re-ignited it over the last few days. It is learnt that the Chief Minister spoke to Mr. Rajanna over phone and warned him not to make any more public statements on the topic. Mr. Siddaramaiah felt that such public statements on the issue would negatively impact the government and the party.
The Chief Minister’s apparent nudge came hours before he, along with Mr. Shivakumar, left for Delhi in a chartered aircraft. Both leaders, though have official engagements meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Central Ministers to discuss a range of issues pertaining to the State, are expected to discuss the discontent with the party’s Central leaders.
Approach high command
Meanwhile, Mr. Shivakumar said that those who were speaking before the media on the issue of Deputy Chief Ministers should instead go and speak to the high command.
“There is no need to discuss these issues before the media. Anyone can approach the high command and find a solution instead,” he told reporters here. On the possible change of guard at the KPCC, as suggested by Mr. Rajanna, he said: “It is a very good. Time should not be wasted. He should go where solution is available. Doctor provides medicine when one is sick. Similarly, he should go in search of a solution.”
In response, Mr. Rajanna said that he need not behave the way Mr. Shivakumar wants. “I am a law graduate and I have my own mind. I will go to party high command to discuss the issue. The party had asked us to stop speaking on Deputy Chief Minister posts till the election. Now that elections are over, we are raising the issue. There is no vacancy for the Chief Minister’s post but Deputy Chief Mnister posts are vacant, so we are making the demand.”
Poor optics
Over the past few days, public statements from both camps seem to be affecting the optics for the government that is already under fire over the narrative of development works taking a backseat allegedly due to implementation of guarantee schemes.
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