Vijayapura: With Basavaraj Bommai taking oath as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka on Wednesday after the resignation of B. S. Yediyurappa, the speculation is rife whether any legislator of Vijayapura will get representation in the new cabinet.
The district has three MLAs of the BJP; Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Vijayapura city, A. S. Patil Nadahalli from Muddebihal and Somanagouda Patil Sasnur from Devarahipparagi.
It may be noted that during the present BJP government, the district got a raw deal in the State Cabinet as despite having three MLAs of the party, none found a place could become Minister.
Interestingly, during the last coalition government of Congress and JD(S), the district had three Ministers; two from Congress and one from JD(S). M. B. Patil and Shivanand Patil were Ministers from Congress and late, M. C. Managuli was from JD(S).
But in the present BJP government, no MLA was made Minister when B. S. Yediyurappa was CM.
Now, with Bommai heading the State, the speculations are rife in political circles whether any MLA will find a place in the Bommai government.
Political analysts believe that at present, the chances of any MLA of Bijapur district getting Ministry are slim.
They believe among the three MLAs, A. S. Patil Nadahalli may not find a place in the new Cabinet as he has already been made Chairman of Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. Secondly, he has joined the BJP only during the last assembly polls, thus, he may not get the Cabinet berth.
As far as Somanagouda Patil Sasnur is concerned, many believe that since he is not an aggressive and ambitious politician, the party may not consider him for the post of Minister.
He has always been considered a soft politician who enjoys a good reputation among his voters but at High Command level, he does not have much influence required to become Minister.
Lastly, Bananagouda Patil Yatnal remains senior among other two party colleagues. Despite having seniority and enormous experience as a politician and serving as Minister in A. B. Vajapeyee government Yatnal does enjoy a good reputation in the party.
He is known more for giving controversial statements against the very party leaders of the BJP including Yediyurappa. Though initially, he was in the good books of Yediyurappa, but later he raised a flag of revolt against BSY and began openly criticizing him.
He also reportedly does not enjoy strong backing of any other MLA of the district or other districts. On the contrary, he has more political foes in his own party than friends.
Considering these aspects, prima facie it appears that none of the BJP MLAs of Bijapur will find a place in Bommai cabinet, however since politics is considered to be a highly unpredictable field, the luck may knock the door of any legislator.
