Chorus for additional Deputy CM posts picks up again

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: A demand for three more Deputy Chief Ministers has cropped up in CM Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet yet once again.

Minister for Housing and Minority Welfare Zameer Ahmed Khan on Monday justified the demand made by his Cabinet colleagues Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna and Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi. DK Shivakumar is the only Deputy CM and he is a Vokkaliga.

Siddaramaiah is a Kuruba. They argue that additional Deputy CMs from populous communities namely Veerashaiva-Lingayats, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Muslims would provide representation and earn them trust.

The demand was first made in September 2023 by Rajanna. The minister raked up the issue again in January but the demand has been rebuffed repeatedly. In May last year, Shivakumar had demanded he be made the lone Deputy CM. Moreover, the Vokkaliga strongman was promised the CM’s post for the second half of the term.

The demand for more Deputy CMs is Siddaramaiah loyalist ministers and is seen as a move to keep Shivakumar’s influence in check.

Community representation cited

When asked about the demand, Zameer justified it, adding that many communities had a desire for the Deputy CM’s post.

“What’s wrong in making that demand? Every community has placed a demand that their own be given the Deputy CM’s post. There’s nothing wrong with it. Everyone has the same demand, be it Muslims, Lingayats or SCs. DK Shivakumar is a Vokkaliga who has secured said post,” Zameer said.

“Our party honours the high command. We make demands and there is nothing wrong in it. It is the high command that will take a call,” he added. Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa agreed.

“Many Dalit leaders have the capability and based on that it should be given, not on quota,” he said. He also denied that it was an attempt to weaken Shivakumar.

“No one can weaken anyone. Whatever has to be decided will be ultimately decided by the Congress high command,” he added.

“I have been saying this since the very beginning. Since the (Lok Sabha) election was coming up, our AICC (All India Congress Committee) president (Mallikarjun Kharge) had told no one should speak on this publically. So we had complied,” Rajanna said.

“There should be a discussion (on additional Deputy CMs). It should be a collective decision. It should happen on the level of high command and the CM,” Jarkiholi said.

Left to high command: Shivakumar

Shivakumar reacted to the same by saying that the party’s central leadership will take a call.

“The party will decide. I don't know about all those things,” he said.

Minister for Information Technology and BioTechnology (IT-BT) Priyank Kharge, who is in Shivakumar’s camp, said that his Cabinet colleagues should not raise the issue before the media.

“As Ministers we have to introspect on party performance in the Lok Sabha polls, whether we have given power to party workers, whether we are doing our job as Ministers correctly,” he said, adding that it wasn’t possible to make everyone in the Cabinet Deputy CMs alongside a single CM.