Board posts: Congress legislators and ministers angry on CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: For the first time after he took over as chief minister in May 2013, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is in trouble with as many as a dozen ministers seething with anger and resentment against the Kuruba strongman for ignoring their supporters while making appointments to various state run boards and corporations.

Going by the intensity of anger prevailing among legislators and ministers, the proposed cabinet reshuffle, which may happen any time between Thursday and December 2, may not take place at all, as the chief minister would be busy fire fighting the discontent before it engulfs the government.

Congress sources told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Siddaramaiah had called AICC general secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh on Tuesday and requested him to give permission to postpone the proposed cabinet reshuffle. ”Ïf you feel that the situation is not conducive for a cabinet reshuffle, so be it,” Mr Singh is believed to have told the chief minister.   

What is significant is that at least two ministers belonging to the politically influential Vokkaliga community are upset with him. While Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh openly expressed his ire against Mr Siddaramaiah for not consulting him before the appointments were made, energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, true to his nature of being a cool and silent strategician, seems to have decided to get  the list changed using his influence.

Mr Shivakumar, succeeded in changing the list by getting one of his supporter nominated as deputy chairman of one of the corporations. The one earlier nominated was a strong supporter of Siddaramaiah and a vocal critic of Bengaluru Rural MP D.K. Suresh, brother of D.K. Shivakumar.  The powerful minister ensured that his critic was removed and proved his clout to the CM.

Apart from the ministers, senior leaders including MPs, scores of legislators and hundreds of party workers have decided to take on what they describe as the “blatantly” partisan attitude exhibited by Siddaramaiah in appointment of chairmen of boards and corporations.

Former union minister K. H. Muniyappa, who was keen to get his daughter a post in one of the corporations, is understood to have called up party leaders in Delhi and expressed his anger. “If this is the insult we have to suffer after having served the party for several decades, then god save us,” Mr Muniyappa reportedly told an AICC secretary on Tuesday.