Disappointed lawmakers leave Bengaluru in huff; Supporters hold protest in several places

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT  

Bengaluru: Congress lawmakers of several districts stayed away from the swearing-in-ceremony of 24 new ministers at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on Saturday out of disappointment.

Till last night, the MLAs were hopeful of their induction into the Council of Ministers in recognition of their seniority and experience in handling portfolios in the past, and their sincerity to the party. After the list of MLAs to be sworn in as ministers came out, many of them returned to their respective districts.

All 34 berths have been filled up. Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Council B.K.Hariprasad is reportedly very upset with the high command for not considering his name for the minister’s post. He is said to have threatened to resign from the Council. Hariprasad belonged to the Idiga community and Madhu Bangarappa has been made minister from the community. With no representation for Haveri district, all five Congress MLAs remained away from the swearing-infunction.

The five lawmakers, Rudrappa Lamani, Basavaraj Shivannavar, Prakash Koliwad, U.B.Banakar and Srinivasa Mane expected at least one of them to be inducted into the Cabinet. The supporters of these MLAs have taken to social media to express their resentment. The Uppara community too feels neglected for making Chamarajanagar MLA Puttasiddashetty Deputy Speaker instead of minister. He had been representing this constituency for the last four terms.

Similarly, the supporters of Malavalli MLA P.M. Narendra Swamy staged a protest in the town for not accommodating their leader in the Council of Ministers. In Mysuru, fans of Congress MLA Tanveer Sait held a protest at Gandhi Square protesting against the sidelining of Sait. They contended that he had been representing the constituency for the last three decades and had not allowed other parties to capture the constituency.  

The supporters of Challakere MLA T.Raghumurthy staged a dharna in front of the district Congress office for not making him a minister. He had been holding this constituency for the last three terms, they contended. The high command has also ignored senior MLAs like R.V. Deshpande, Basavaraj Rayaraddi, T.B.Jayachandra, M.Krishnappa, Salim Ahmed, and N.A.Haris