Cabinet induction: Digvijay Singh will have his hands full

Bangalore: With many senior leaders  in the Congress opposing the induction of D.K. Shivakumar and R. Roshan Baig in the state cabinet, AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge, Digvijay Singh who is expected to arrive  Sunday night to hold a state co-ordination committee meeting on  Monday may have his hands full pacifying them.

While the committee is expected to discuss a strategy to counter the BJP’s rally to protest the induction of the two new ministers and a further expansion of the  cabinet to fill the remaining three  berths, besides its election strategy for the Lok Sabha poll, Singh will most certainly have to deal with the disgruntlement within the party over the inclusion of Baig and Shivakumar in the Siddaramaiah ministry, say sources. 

With several senior leaders and former ministers like Malikayya Guttedar, Appaji Nadagouda, Dr A. B. Malaka Reddy and K. B. Koliwad lodging a  protest with the party high command against the recent cabinet expansion,  it is believed it could try to placate them by offering them plum posts when revamping state- run boards and corporations as they enjoy considerable clout in their respective regions.

Around 15 to 20 senior legislators who had hoped for cabinet berths could be accommodated. With Siddaramaiah himself silent on revamping boards and corporations,  a section of senior leaders is likely to broach the subject during the meeting, sources add.

As for the BJP’s proposed state -wide protest on the plank of anti-corruption, the party is  unlikely to take an offensive stand or duck the issue. It could instead launch a campaign of its own highlighting its efforts to pass the Lok Pal bill in Parliament and criticising the record of the BJP on this front, say sources.

While  selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections is also expected to come up  at the  meeting, some state Congress leaders claim the co-ordination committee may not meet at all owing to the clamour from several legislators for another round of cabinet expansion. “Us­u­ally AICC general secretaries tend to cancel their tours at the last minute in such circumstances and so it is  not clear whether Singh will arrive in Bangalore or not,” they said.