The Hindu : Karnataka News : Senior Congress leaders left out in Ministry expansion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Senior Congress leaders left out in Ministry expansion

By S. Rajendran

BANGALORE, JUNE 5. The Dharam Singh-led coalition Ministry in Karnataka was expanded today with the induction of 10 Ministers — nine of Cabinet rank and one Minister of State.

Of the 10 new Ministers, all five belonging to the Janata Dal (Secular) — Panduranga Rao Ganesh Rao Sindhia, D. Manjunath, M.P. Prakash, H.D. Revanna and Mirajuddin Patel — were given Cabinet rank while the Congress preferred to give Cabinet rank to Mallikarjuna Kharge, Prakash Hukkeri, K. Srinivas Gowda and S.R. Morey and Minister of State rank to the relatively new entrant to electoral politics, Tanveer Sait, son of the former Minister, the late Azeez Sait.

The Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers. All of them took the oath in Kannada. Except Mr. Kharge, all of them took oath in the name of God. The Chief Secretary, K.K. Misra, announced the names of the Ministers to be sworn-in in the order of their seniority. While Mr. Kharge, who was a Chief Minister aspirant and lost out to Mr. Dharam Singh, was the first to be sworn-in, Mr. Sait was the last.

Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, the Chief Minister said that the ministry would be further expanded shortly but did not specify any deadline. "The aim now is to ensure that the coalition Government has a smooth run."

The senior member of the Legislative Assembly and former Industries Minister, R.V.Deshpande, who will be sworn-in pro tem speaker on Sunday, will administer the oath to the new members.

In a way, the swearing-in ceremony was a tame affair with the Congress camp in a state of shock after most of its senior leaders were left out. Some of the chief ministerial aspirants such as H.K.Patil, R.V. Deshpande and D.K. Shivakumar have been sidelined since they have reportedly been held responsible for the party's poor show in the Assembly elections. The Janata Dal (Secular) had also reportedly told the Congress High Command that some of them had to be kept out of the Ministry in the interest of a better cohesion.

Even as the swearing-in ceremony was in progress, a large group of Congress workers marched to the venue and raised slogans seeking justice to their leaders, particularly R. Roshan Baig, whose name did not figure in the list. Mr. Baig was earlier in the Janata Dal and crossed over to the Congress prior to the 1994 elections and ever since has been a bitter critic of the Janata Dal (S).

The Union Minister, Rahman Khan, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President, B. Janardhana Poojary and a few ministers of the S.M. Krishna Cabinet such as Mr. H.K. Patil and Allum Veerabhadrappa attended the function.

Conspicuous among those absent were the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, and the former Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna. Mr. Gowda did not attend the first swearing-in ceremony on May 28 also.

The star attraction at the function was H.D. Kumaraswamy, youngest son of Mr. Deve Gowda, who reportedly finalised the compromise formula with the Congress when the discussions were on the brink of collapse.

Of the 10 Ministers sworn-in today, all the five from the Janata Dal (S) had been Ministers earlier. Mr. Sindhia who had served as Home Minister in the H.D. Deve Gowda and the late J.H. Patel Cabinets was sworn-in Minister for the seventh time. M.P. Prakash and Mr. Sindhia had served in the Ramakrishna Hegde, S.R.Bommai, H.D. Deve Gowda and J.H. Patel Governments.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka