The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Yeddyurappa team is now full

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Friday, Jul 11, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Yeddyurappa team is now full

S. Rajendran

All the 34 Ministers are of Cabinet rank

Bangalore: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has done what his predecessors — H.D. Kumaraswamy and N. Dharam Singh — could not do, by raising his Ministry’s strength to the optimum size.

In a way, it is a reflection of the command that the Chief Minister enjoys in Ministry-formation, compared to Mr. Dharam Singh and Mr. Kumaraswamy who were compelled to keep the slots vacant.

It is another matter that Mr. Yeddyurappa was forced to induct Balachandra Jarkiholi, Anand Asnotikar and Shivanagouda Naik, as a reward for their defection. While 29 Ministers were sworn-in along with the Chief Minister on May 30, Katta Subramanya Naidu was made Minister on June 7.

The strength of the Ministry has been pegged at 34. In other words, the size of the Ministry has been capped at 15 per cent of the strength of the Legislative Assembly and that of the Lok Sabha in the case of the Union Ministry as per one of the recent amendments to the Constitution. That the State has a bicameral legislature is another matter, but the size of the Ministry has been capped although members of the Legislative Council could also form part of the Council of Ministers.

A lot dissent was expressed by members of the Legislative Assembly when five members of the Upper House were accommodated by Mr. Dharam Singh and thereafter by Mr. Kumaraswamy.

Ironically, Mr. Yeddyurappa has preferred to grant Cabinet status to his ministerial colleagues.

It is the first time in the State that there is not a single Minister of State leave alone a deputy minister, whose number was high in the ministries constituted in the 1960s.

Following the capping of the Ministry size, Chief Ministers in recent years had also started appointing parliamentary secretaries.

It is another way to circumvent the constitutional amendment and the parliamentary secretaries enjoy the status of a Minister of State.

Mr. Yeddyurappa has also given the same status to his media adviser.

Legal experts say the post of parliamentary secretaries is not covered under the statute.

By raising the Ministry to the full size, the Chief Minister has also conveyed to the legislators of rival parties that even if they choose to cross over to the BJP, he will not be in a position to accommodate them in the Cabinet.

It is perhaps because of this that some of the Congress and Janata Dal (S) legislators, who were believed to be in discussion with the BJP, refrained from crossing over at this juncture.

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