Dr G Parameshwar to decide Kempaiah’s fate

Bengaluru: With KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar taking over as Home Minister, the future of Kempaiah, advisor to Home Minister, seems to be hanging in balance. Till Saturday evening, Dr Parameshwar held two rounds of meetings with the officials, but did not decide on Kempaiah’s fate.

However, highly placed source in the government told Deccan Chronicle that Kempaiah might be elevated as State Security Advisor, who will directly report to the chief minister. The new post may be a promotion for Mr Kempaiah.

Mr Kempaiah said, “I called on the new home minister on Saturday. I attended the meeting. As of now, the present arrangement stands.” He refused to comment when his attention was drawn to the buzz in political circle that he would be appointed as State Security Advisor (SSA).

Attempt to reach Home Minister to get his reaction on the fate of Mr Kempaiah turned futile. His personal assistant said since Dr Parameshwar was busy attending meetings, he could be reached perhaps on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a delegation, led by Congress MLA Bhairati Basavaraj, met Dr Parameshwar and lobbied for the continuation of Mr Kempaiah as advisor. However, the Minister did not disclose his stand on the issue, sources in the party said.

It will be interesting to see if Dr Parameshwar would allow Mr Kempaiah to be a SSA, because a similar attempt earlier had to be dropped. Soon after Mr Siddaramaiah took over as chief minister, the attempt was resisted by the loyal Congressmen and he had to abort the idea. Later, Mr Kempaiah was brought in as an advisor to home minister with minister of state rank.

“If Mr Kempaiah is appointed as state security advisor, it would be seen as an attempt by the chief minister to cut the home minister to size. So, Dr Parameshwar might take this issue to party high command,” party sources said.