Tag: DK Shivakumar

Karnataka portfolios finalised as CM Siddaramaiah keeps IT/BT, DK Shivakumar gets Irrigation, Bengaluru development

The final list of portfolios was notified towards midnight Sunday with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah retaining the IT/BT department due to a tug-of-war between two lawmakers who wanted it.

The final list of portfolios was approved by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, but not before Siddaramaiah was forced to make multiple changes under pressure from ministers.

Initially, MB Patil was given the IT/BT portfolio along with Industries. In a subsequent revision, IT/BT went to Priyank Kharge along with Rural Development & Panchayat Raj. Apparently, Patil opposed this saying he is keen to take up IT/BT. For now, Siddaramaiah has kept IT/BT with himself and it is likely that he will allocate it to Patil later on.

Similarly, there was some back-and-forth with the Kannada & Culture portfolio. Initially, it was given to B Nagendra who scoffed that he is not even a native Kannada speaker. The portfolio has now been given to Shivaraj Tangadagi. As demanded by Nagendra, a Valmiki, he got the ST Welfare portfolio along with Youth Empowerment & Sports.

Also, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has been given Bengaluru City Development. He is the fourth successive non-Bengaluru lawmaker to oversee the city’s affairs.

During the JD(S)-Congress coalition, the then Deputy CM G Parameshwara (Koratagere) was the Bengaluru minister. When the BJP came to power, BS Yediyurappa (Shikaripura) kept Bengaluru with himself. Then, Basavaraj Bommai (Shiggaon), too, followed suit.

Parameshwara is the home minister, a job he had between 2015 and 2017.

Guarantee-linked portfolios

Ramalinga Reddy is the transport minister to oversee the fulfillment of the Congress’ promise of free bus travel to women (Shakti). He was unhappy with the transport portfolio but was convinced after he was given Muzrai as an additional responsibility.

Siddaramaiah’s aide KJ George will head the energy department, which is under pressure to provide 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti). Senior leader KH Muniyappa is in charge of the food & civil supplies department under which comes the Anna Bhagya promise of 10 kg free rice to every BPL member.

Shivakumar’s aide Laxmi Hebbalkar is heading the women & child development department that is working out details to give Rs 2,000 per month to all woman head of households (Gruha Lakshmi).

For the unemployment allowance (Yuva Nidhi), Santosh Lad is the Labour minister, and Dr Sharanaprakash Patil the skill development minister.

It is said that there was some resistance among lawmakers in taking up guarantee-linked portfolios.

May 29, 2023
Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar stick to claims for CM post

The Congress high command is faced with a daunting task to choose between former chief minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president DK Shivakumar as the new chief minister of Karnataka.

Sources privy to the happenings in Delhi said on Monday night that Siddaramiah was the likely CM. They said a decision had been taken and that an announcement would soon be made after holding discussions with Shivakumar, who had cancelled his Delhi visit on Monday citing ill-health.

However, the scene changed drastically on Tuesday with the arrival of Shivakumar in the national capital.
Both the leaders were adamant throughout the day and refused to back down from staking their respective claims for the top post.

The race for the top post heated up after Shivakumar reached Kharge’s residence in New Delhi a little after 5 pm and held talks with him for 30 minutes. Soon after Shivakumar’s departure, Siddaramaiah arrived at Kharge’s residence, and the two leaders held discussions for nearly an hour.

Sources said that Kharge sought opinions from both the leaders on their choices and the formation of the government. According to senior leaders, Shivakumar made a fresh push for the CM post during his meeting with Kharge, citing several reasons to validate his claim.

While he maintained that he rebuilt the party in the state, he also held Siddaramaiah responsible for the collapse of the government in 2019 when Congress ran a coalition with JDS. According to sources, he is said to have told Kharge that he would settle for nothing less than the CM’s post.

The secret ballot conducted in Bengaluru on Sunday night was also shown to both leaders. Siddaramaiah enjoys the support of a majority of newly-elected Congress MLAs.

According to sources in the know, at least 35 MLAs in the secret ballot had chosen to leave the decision on the chief minister choice to the party high command. The Congress high Command appears to be bidding for more time to placate Shivakumar to thwart any dissent within the party. Kharge on Wednesday is likely to meet more MLAs and stakeholders to thrash out a compromise formula.

Though the leadership has floated the idea of ‘rotational CM’, it is learnt that both the leaders are against it and are looking at a full five-year term. The day witnessed high-pitched political activities involving a series of meetings held at Kharge’s residence in the capital. The first meeting of the day was kicked off with former Congress President Rahul Gandhi getting into a huddle with Kharge, AICC leaders KC Venugopal and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala.

It was learnt that Rahul Gandhi put the onus on Karnataka’s Congress stalwart Kharge to pick between the two leaders as the CM. It may be interesting to note here that Shivakumar shares a good rapport with AI CC chief Kharge and had even claimed just before the assembly polls that he would be happy to work under Kharge as the CM.

While the Congress is wrestling with many challenges, the top leadership itself is divided in picking the chief minister choice. According to sources, while Sonia Gandhi — who is resting in Shimla — is said to be in favour of Shivakumar, Rahul Gandhi wants a better representation of Dalits, women, and backward classes in the state, whose clout Siddaramaiah enjoys.

The party high command is faced with weighing various caste permutations and combinations as it does not want to upset the applecart in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, especial after Congress won a thumping victory at the recently conducted assembly polls wherein the party won 135 seats in the 224-member house. Whi le Siddharamaiah is largely viewed as a champion of social justice with pan-Karnataka appeal, Shivakumar enjoys popularity in urban pockets.

The day began with Rahul Gandhi getting into a huddle with Kharge, AICC leaders K C Venugopal and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala. It is learnt that Rahul put the onus on Kharge to take the call on CM-ship

May 17, 2023
Prominent Vokkaliga Seer BackS DK Shivakumar’s Candidature For Karnataka CM

Prominent Vokkaliga pontiff of Adi Chunchanagiri Nirmalananda Natha Swamiji on Sunday appealed to the Congress leadership to appoint Karnataka party unit president D K Shivakumar as the next chief minister of the state.

In the wake of Congress getting a thumping majority in the Assembly polls, he also said Shivakumar is the most eligible candidate by all standards to head the state.

The Vokkaliga Sangha, which is the main body of one of the dominant communities of Karnataka, organised a meeting of Vokkaliga pontiffs where a unanimous decision was taken to request the Congress top brass to appoint Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga who has been steering the state unit, as the next chief minister.

“This programme has been organised to request all the seniors right from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah to give Shivakumar an opportunity to run the administration and serve the society,” Nirmalananda Natha Swamiji said.

He added that Shivakumar had suffered a lot while discharging his duty. “We all saw tears in his eyes yesterday, which were a mix of joy and pain. The man who toiled so much should get the result,” the seer said.

May 14, 2023