By invitation: Reshuffle without rationale threatens to backfire on Siddaramaiah

Looking at the “refurbished” Siddaramaiah ministry, one is left wondering what the yardstick was for dropping some ministers and appointing others to replace them. The swearing-in of the new ministers was drowned out by the liberal dose of swearing at at Siddaramaiah and Mallikarjun Kharge.  

Except for bringing in party senior Kagodu Thimmappa and the knowledgeable Ramesh Kumar, who had been kept out of Congress governments fearing his barbs, the June 19 cabinet reshuffle exercise was generally a case of finding substitutes from the same caste, or even family, as the outgoing minister.  

In the case of V. Srinivasa Prasad, was he dropped as Revenue Minister merely because he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public function in Mysuru? Prasad had praised Modi for the success achieved in persuading the well-to-do to give up subsidised LPG, thus saving huge amounts of public money. Otherwise, there were no allegations against Prasad, even though he was heading a notorious department that continues to carry the stamp of corruption, despite computerisation. Siddaramaiah did no doubt drop Baburao Chinchansur, the Congress’ new self-appointed Mahatma (although Baburao says it’s the people of his Koli caste that have called him one), for better reasons, but the axe fell on Prasad merely because he is outspoken.

What Siddaramaiah undertook was not a rejig but giving himself a new look Council of Ministers. In the event, the chief minister showed that he and the party high command had no confidence in about 40 percent of the ministers in the old team. No doubt the replacement of A as a minister by B is of concern to the particular legislator, his ardent or paid supporters and to some extent his or her caste or community, but it is not of much concern to the public at large. Public interest is involved, however. The man on the street, or on his agricultural land, wants to know whether he can look forward to better administration, less corruption and lower prices.

The reshuffle exercise was, ostensibly, aimed at galvanizing the government machinery and performance to help Congress retain power in the 2018 Assembly elections. It was meant to face up to the challenge posed by a resurgent BJP in the state, led by B.S. Yeddyurappa and a powerful Narendra Modi government at the Centre. So far, though, Siddaramaiah has not had much to complain against the Centre, but it has its grievances against Raj Bhavan. Governor Vajubhai Vala has shown that he is not a mere rubber stamp and is keeping the government under leash. Vala is in a way speaking through his actions, and not through his speeches in Hindi, which is anyway incomprehensible to most people in the state, making him the least understood Governor of Karnataka.

The thinking people of the state, who had expected Congress to provide a clean administration after their experience with BJP corruption and misrule, are disappointed. Siddaramaiah has only been pulling up senior officials for their failings without tackling the problem of corruption in government offices. At least one survey says that Karnataka is the “most corrupt state” in India, while another says the state is “very highly corrupt”. The chief minister himself is facing charges of questionable conduct.

But what must worry Congress most is the disappearance of discipline in the party. There is today open dissidence, even revolt, in the party, a situation reminiscent of the Veerappa Moily regime, when M. Rajashekar Murthy had turned his house into the rebel headquarters and disorderly scenes were witnessed at a legislature party meeting. Both those shown the exit door last week and those who did not find a berth have exhibited their ire through their rowdy supporters. Those of party MLA, the ultra-rich M. Krishnappa, held parts of Bengaluru to ransom last Sunday by storming a metro rail station and obstructing traffic on the road as well even as the new ministers were being sworn in; supporters of Deputy Speaker Shivashankar Reddy stoned government buses in Gouribidanur; followers of the ever angry Qamarul Islam (one rarely finds him smiling) burnt a bus or two in Kalaburagi, and so on.

Siddaramaiah must be praying that all this anger is directed more at Mallikarjun Kharge, than at himself. It’s Kharge who is being blamed for the way the reshuffle turned out. Did Kharge, who had for long remained a friend of everyone and foe to none, steered clear of party squabbles, and posing as a loyalist of the high command, all in the hope of becoming chief minister one day,  maneuver for the appointment of his son Priyank as a junior minister, thus spoiling the chances of a few other aspirants? Not only Prasad, even Kharge’s own followers in Kalaburagi district, Qamarul Islam and Baburao Chinchansur, have turned against him!

There was also the display of arrogance and contempt as one very old minister was asked to step down. Shamanur Shivashankarappa, at 85 the oldest member of the previous team, went out spitting, saying he was glad to get out of the Cabinet, since he was now free to travel in his own fleet of Mercedes cars or even a helicopter rather than having to suffer in the official  Toyota Innova, too modest by the standards of Davangere’s richest man. That contempt for ‘sarkari poverty’ did not stop him, of course, from ensuring that his son S.S. Mallikarjun was his replacement. And all that ego did not stop him from going against propriety and remaining president of the All-India Veerashaiva Mahasabha even while he was a minister. A minister serves the entire state and its people, and not a particular caste, community or district. One wonders why the opposition did not question him on this.

If that was a son-for-father exchange, the induction of Ramesh Kumar was a matter of maintaining caste quotas – he replaced another Brahmin, Dinesh Gundurao.

The attempt at transforming his ministry has cleared backfired on the chief minister. The least he could have done was to have called in the ministers he wanted to drop to his ante-chamber and explained to them the rationale, if there was one. Now, though, the cry for replacing Siddaramaiah himself is again in the air. Hoisted by his own petard?