Murmurs within BJP as defectors given plum ministries

Bengaluru: The portfolio allocation undertaken by Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa indicates that the 10 defectors who help him pull down the JD(S)-Congress coalition government back in July have pretty much got the plums they were demanding.

Ramesh Jarakiholi, a powerful chieftain from Belagavi who played a major role in the toppling of the previous regime, got his choice of portfolio--Major and Minor irrigation. Another defector, Dr K. Sudhakar got Medical Education.

Of the others, Somashekhar, Byrathi Basavaraju, B.C. Patil, Anand Singh, K. Gopalaiah and K.C. Narayan Gowda have been able to secure the plums they sought.

Only Arabail Shivaram Hebbar and Shrimant Patil have had to make do with relatively low-key jobs.

Here’s who got what:

Ramesh Jarakiholi: Water Resources

Dr K. Sudhakar: Medical Education 

Anand Singh: Food and Civil Supplies

Shrimant Patil: Textiles

K. Goapalaiah: Sugar and Small Scale Industries

B.A. Byrathi Basvaraju: Urban Development (not including Bengaluru Affairs and 

Town Planning)

S.T. Somashekhar: Cooperation

B.C. Patil: Forests

K.C. Narayan Gowda: Municipal Administration

Arabail Shivaram Hebbar: Labour

Having settled this matter, Yediyurappa will next face another uphill task, of distributing district-in-charge ministries and then appointing chairmen to state-run boards and corporations.

Meanwhile, discontent is brewing within the BJP. Two MLAs, Umesh Katti and Mahesh Kumathalli, who have been left out of the cabinet, made a renewed pitch for berths. Katti asserted he was very much eligible for a ministerial post, and Kumathalli again reminded the chief minister that he had been promised a ministry before the December bypolls.