DK’s Cabinet rejig balances several factors

The much awaited cabinet expansion by Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar on Monday will be essentially seen as an exercise in injecting new blood, maintaining caste and community balance even while trying to cast the deadwood. Coming as it does after two months of his swearing-in as chief minister, the expanded cabinet has tried to strike a balance between the ones having experience and younger ones capable of bringing verve and vigour necessary to counter and combat incumbency for the Assembly election just 20 months away.

Missing from the new cabinet are old veterans HC Mahadevappa and HK Patil who perhaps lost out due to age. But party’s cadre may rue the absence of Dinesh Gundu Rao and Lakshmi Hebbalkar who were fresh faces with potential traction for youth. While the 13 ministers who joined the chief minister when he was sworn in on June 3, were largely from among the loyalists of outgoing CM Siddramaiah, the latest entrants seem to have been picked up on the basis of talent, age, dynastic legacy and caste and community affiliations besides due consideration for the regional representation.

No wonder, they include three male descendants of former chief ministers i.e., Ajay Dharamsing, Yathindra and Madhu Bangarappa, sons of Mr. Dharamsing, Siddramaiah and Mr. Banga rappa respectively. Social balancing is evident with seven Lingayath ministers, five berths going for members from the Vokkaliga community, three Mus lims, seven scheduled castes (SC) and three from among the scheduled tribes.

But the total absence of women—Gayathri Shanthegowda whose name was found in the list of new inductees but was not sworn in on Monday—is bound to leave a bitter taste for all those who had nursed a grouse vis-a-vis the stark gender disparity in formation of cabinets in the state. While the luck has smiled for Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad, a strong contender among the probables, Mysore MLA Tanveer Sait may have to wait for a second opportunity to be a minister.

Eyebrows are bound to rise over re-induction of B. Nagendra who had to resign in 2024 following allegations raised against him following scam in the Maharishi Valmiki Corporation for Development of Tribals. There are 12 new faces, while 8 incumbent ministers have been retained in the new cabinet composition thereby signalling a judicious mix of new and the old. Resignation by two Congress MLAs representing Indi and Sagar constituency following disappointment to find a berth in the cabinet does not augur well for the Congress government.

But it is natural to be considered an essential fallout of a long awaited exercise which had raised the aspirations sky high among those who were less lucky so far. Hopefully, they would be persuad ed to retrace step before the Speaker’s chair is officially filled.