Cabinet-rank posts for MLAs who miss berths?

The Congress is drawing up a plan to quell dissidence that could spill out following selection of ministerial aspirants for the expansion of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s Cabinet.

The Congress is planning to buy peace by appointing those who missed the Cabinet bus as chairpersons of statutory boards and corporations. Not just that, the party is exploring the option of elevating those posts to the Cabinet rank.

A decision on this is likely to be taken in the Congress-JD(S) coordination and monitoring committee, chaired by former chief minister Siddaramaiah, which is expected to meet for the first time after the Cabinet expansion.

All appointments to statutory boards and corporations will be cleared by the coordination committee. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal are members, while JD(S) leader Kunwar Danish Ali is the committee’s convenor.

The Congress has 22 ministerial berths out of 34, whereas the JD(S) has 12.

With Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara bagging the deputy chief minister’s post, the Congress has to deal with a long list of legislators aspiring to become ministers. Hence, the party expects some disgruntlement.

A quick fix way to douse the fire could be to appoint some of the legislators to some key boards and corporations and elevate them to Cabinet rank.