'Tainted' leaders' exclusion from Karnataka cabinet leads to protests

The 28-member new council of ministers for Karnataka sworn-in on Saturday signalled a convergence between chief minister S Siddaramaiah and the Congress high command over keeping the “tainted” out of the cabinet in the state which has just recently rejected a corrupt BJP government.

The imprimatur of Rahul Gandhi was evident in the composition of the 28-member team, which was a mix of  heavyweight seniors and promising juniors. The two-tier ministry, with 20 ministers and eight ministers of state, has seasoned administrators in half a dozen former ministers of the state government and a couple of former union ministers. 

Keeping his promise to keep out ‘tainted’ leaders from the ministry, Siddaramaiah managed to exclude from his cabinet serious aspirants such as mining baron Shivakumar and Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad, elected from Bellary city, and former minister R Roshan Baig.

The swearing-in of the new cabinet at the glass house of the Raj Bhavan in the city was a smooth affair, although followers of those left out, notably former minister DK Shivakumar, who has mining interests, and Tanvir Sait, staged protests. Shivakumar’s supporters staged protests opposite the residences of KPCC president G Parameshwara and former chief minister SM Krishna. Parameshwara promised them that the services of Shivakumar, a former working president of the state Congress, would be utilised “appropriately.”

In Mysore, supporters of Tanvir Sait, another aspirant for the berth, staged a protest demanding that chief minister Siddaramaiah accommodate him in the ministry.