Saturday could be the big day for all Cabinet hopefuls with the discussion among Karnataka Congress leaders and AICC leaders in Delhi over the impending reshuffle of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet remainin
Saturday could be the big day for all Cabinet hopefuls with the discussion among Karnataka Congress leaders and AICC leaders in Delhi over the impending reshuffle of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet remaining inconclusive on Friday.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah is fervently working on his reshuffle plan in a bid to effect a major change and tone up the administration which has been described as lacklustre but he is facing stiff resistance from the ministers likely to be dropped and more so from Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge.
The younger lot among party legislators too are clamouring for berths as they know this is their last chance to make their mark and help them win in their constituencies in two years’ time when the Assembly polls will be due. Chikballapura MLA, Dr K. Sudhakar, one of the young Congress MLAs, who may make it to the Cabinet, said chief minister, Siddaramaiah must be given a free hand to reconstitute the Cabinet.
Dr Sudhakar told this newspaper that only if Mr Siddaramaiah is given a free hand, he can be made accountable for the government’s actions.
“The high command should give him a free hand. He has to pick the team of his choice. He has to balance caste and region. He has to choose youngsters who can be trained in administration. Then, the party can guide them to work to their expectations,” he said.
According to Dr Sudhakar, Mr Siddaramaiah is a popular leader and one of the few mass leaders who has a spotless career while carrying forward the mass appeal. “Therefore, Mr Siddaramaiah can do wonders in his last two years in government,” he said. On Friday, the CM met scores of central leaders in Delhi including AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and Mr Kharge before reaching 10, Janpath in the afternoon to seek formal approval for the reshuffle. However, during the 15-minute meeting which was attended by AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi, party president Sonia Gandhi wanted to know whether he had been able to get all top leaders on board on the rejig. When the CM replied in the negative, Mrs Gandhi reportedly stressed the need for evolving a consensus and adjourned the meeting to Saturday morning. AICC general secretary in-charge for Karnataka, Digvijay Singh who played a key role in getting Mr Siddaramaiah an appointment with Mrs Gandhi, trying his best to evolve a consensus and met another general secretary, Oscar Fernandes to clear the obstacles. The role of Mr Kharge has become crucial in the entire exercise with sources saying the reshuffle is unlikely to happen without the Congress veteran’s stamp of approval. The Congress president too had a meeting with Mr Kharge in the morning and spoke to him over phone in the evening, said sources who refused to divulge the details. Mrs Gandhi no doubt, is in a dilemma as she needs Mr Kharge to carry on the battle in parliament and Mr Siddaramaiah too, the last Congress CM of an important state. If the rival leaders fail to arrive at an agreement on the composition of the new Cabinet, there is a possibility of the entire exercise being put off till July end with the Congress president set to fly out to the US shortly.
