BANGALORE: The Karnataka cabinet expansion has ignited more dissent in the state Congress which romped to back power after May 10 Assembly election, as per party sources.
Congress officials revealed that there is simmering resentment among senior party leaders who didn't get cabinet seats, despite the fact that no one has dared to come out and make a remark in this regard.
B.K. Hariprasad, a senior leader and ardent supporter of the Sonia Gandhi family, is thinking of resigning from his position as MLC and leader of the opposition in the council because the party refused to give him a place in the government. According to people close to him, he was astonished to hear about the news.
R.V. Deshpande, a seasoned Congress veteran, reportedly received the boot from the party after refusing to accept the position of Assembly Speaker.
As per repots, the senior leader's frantic lobbying in New Delhi was ineffective. The state unit has also claimed that Deshpande, a savvy politician, failed to support the party during trying times. Shivalinge Gowda, who joined the Congress after proclaiming his disapproval of previous Prime Minister H.D. Due to the same cause, the Deve Gowda family from JD(S) is dissatisfied. "I feel sorrow. He met Siddaramaiah at his home and said, "I won't say anything now.
Senior politicians Vinay Kulkarni, who won from Dharwad Rural without running for office, and T.B. Jayachandra, a member of the Vokkaliga group, are also dissatisfied. Vinay Kulkarni, the blue-eyed son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, is a suspect in the death of a BJP activist.
Laxman Savadi and Jagadish Shettar, who left the BJP, were not offered cabinet positions either. Jagadish Shettar has been promised an MLC seat and then his appointment to the government, while Savadi has been guaranteed an allocation of cabinet slots at a later period.
Rudrappa Lamani, a respected leader, was also left out of the government. Rudrappa Lamani, the head of our banjara community, had his name on the list up until last night, but today we noticed that it was missing. We will protest if our leader is denied the ministerial position because we gave Congress 75% of the vote in the election, and we believe that our community should have at least one leader, said his supporters.
When questioned about this development, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah responded by asking the media on Saturday if any of the leaders had directly expressed their displeasure with the cabinet expansion to them. No such development is occurring, he said.
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