Cong mollifies Dalits; 3 of 8 Mins from community that voted for it ‘en masse’

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: A day after former deputy chief minister and Koratagere Congress MLA Dr G Parameshwarh warned the high command of a backlash for not considering any Dalit leader for the post of deputy chief minister under the new dispensation, the high order has given Cabinet berths to three Dalits out of a total eight names that were finalised to take oath on Saturday. The three Dalit MLAs are Dr G Parameshwar, KH Muniyappa and Priyank Kharge.

The other minister choices are KJ George, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Satish Jarkiholi, MM Patil and Ramalinga Reddy. The list of eight ministers who took oath on Saturday was approved by the high command late last night and it was released to the media in the early hours. The first name on the list is that of Dr Parameshwar, the first Dalit legislator to raise his voice against “injustice done to the Scheduled Castes by not making any one of them deputy chief minister”.

Alerted by this observation, the AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit himself, brought this to the notice of his seniors, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and pressured the high command to accommodate “many” Dalits in the first list of the ministers. Accordingly, the names of three leaders were included and sent to the newly-elected CLP leader Siddaramaiah.

While expressing his unhappiness over not making any Dalit the deputy chief minister, Dr Parameshwar said he had worked as deputy chief minister in the Siddaramaiah government, and his name should have been considered for the CM’s post or at least for the DyCM’s post. By not doing so, the Congress would have to “face serious consequences in the coming days”. He said the Scheduled Caste voters had voted for the Congress party “en masse despite the previous BJP Government’s announcement of a hike in quota for the SC/ STs”.

In recognition of their faith in the grand old party, the high command should have made a Dalit the deputy chief minister, he insisted. Surprise move The induction of former MP KH Muniyappa surprised everyone as he had lobbied for his daughter and KGF MLA Roopakala.

There was a lot of opposition when the high command gave the Devanahalli ticket to Muniyappa as he wanted to come to State politics, but the dissidence was silenced by the State leaders. Another Dalit leader, Priyank Kharge, had been inducted into the Cabinet possibly for two reasons; as the son of AICC President Mallijkarjun Kharge and the brain behind the social media campaign against the BJP during the Assembly polls.

HK Patil misses bus In a bid to appease the Lingayats, the high command gave the green signal for the induction of KPCC Campaign Committee Chairman MB Patil, which may have happened at the cost of senior Congress leader HK Patil, who has been loyal to the party for the last four to five decades. HK Patil had worked as minister with Kharge and former CM N Dharm Singh for a long time but was not lucky to become even deputy chief minister in the Congress party.

KPCC Working President Satish Jarkiholi has been inducted into the Cabinet in the ST quota, KJ George comes under the minority Christian quota, and Ramalinga Reddy under the Reddy quota. The second round of Cabinet expansion is likely to be held after the three-day short session of the Legislative Assembly for the newly-elected members to take oath.