Dr G Parameshwar in defense: Top brass decided

Bengaluru: Denying that he was involved in the politics of  vengeance, Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC President Dr G Parameshwar said the decision to induct 15 ministers of the Congress into the coalition ministry in the first instalment was taken collectively by all senior leaders including Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"A section of the media has accused me of taking revenge. Let me clarify that it is totally baseless.  The names of the first lot of ministers, were decided by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary  K.C. Venugopal, CLP Leader Siddaramaiah and myself. Rahul also held separate meetings with KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Congress Floor Leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, MP K.H. Muniyappa and D.K. Shivakumar. It is a collective decision to have a combination of seniors and freshers,” he told reporters.

On growing dissatisfaction among senior Congress leaders for denying them berths, Dr Parameshwar said, "I will meet all the disgruntled legislators soon. According to the high command, there will be one more round of Cabinet expansion. While performing ministers will be retained, non-performing ministers will be dropped to accommodate others. The AICC is going to evaluate performance of every minister and take a suitable decision. I will talk to Mr Patil and other disgruntled legislators. I do not need any meditator to talk to them. It is quite natural that they are upset since they failed to make it." 

On who will be the ruling party leader in the Legislative Council, the DyCM said since Ms Jayamala had been inducted as minister from the Council, naturally she would be the ruling party leader in the Upper House.  Asked about non-representation of 14 districts in the cabinet, Dr Parameshwar admitted that his party  had not won a single seat in Mandya, Hassan, Kodagu and other districts because of which a few districts had gone unrepresented.