Bengaluru: Several senior Congress leaders were disappointed after the cabinet expansion, which took place on December 22, leading to a feud in the coalition government.
Congress leaders were nominated as the various heads of government-run boards and corporations, but now they have to wait after New Year’s Day to take charge, as Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has left for Singapore on Saturday unannounced, without signing on their appointment papers.
The Congress and JD(S) cadre are also in a standoff in Mandya after Honnalagere Prakash, a JD(S) leader, was brutally hacked to death.
Amidst, all this drama, the leaders of the Congress in the state are unhappy about the JD(S) demanding 12 tickets of 28 to contest the Lok Sabha polls, which has resulted in major disagreements between the coalition partners.
A Congress leader said, “If the JD(S) leaders continue to be impediments to every move made by the Congress, it will be difficult to continue (the coalition).”
Kumaraswamy and several JD(S) leaders have opposed the Congress party’s move to name certain leaders as the chairpersons of certain boards, including the Congress choosing Chikkaballapura MLA K Sudhakar as the Chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. Speaking about this to the media, JD(S) Supremo Deve Gowda said, “He (K Sudhakar) does not have the expertise to head the pollution control board. That is the reason why the CM is considering his nomination.”
According to sources from the Congress, it is not only K Sudhakar’s nominations that JD(S) leaders are opposing. “They don’t want Lakshmi Hebbalkar becoming the head of Mysore Minerals. They have been apprehensive about Congress leaders from South Karnataka representing some of the top boards and corporations because this would mean that the JD(S) will be answerable to their cadre. The JD(S) and Congress party workers still consider themselves as rivals,” a Congress source said.
However, sources from the JD(S) say that HD Revanna has opposed any appointments until an auspicious day is set. The source stated “Although Kumaraswamy is the CM, HD Revanna is the one in the JD(S) who looks into transfers and appointments. He says that until Shunya masa (zero month in the Hindu lunar calendar) is not over, no decisions will be taken in the matter.”