In the sack list: The curious case of Sadananda Gowda

The dropping of D V Sadananda Gowda from the Cabinet surprised many in Delhi's political circles.

Gowda, who was the fourth minister to be sworn in when the BJP won a second consecutive term in 2019, commanded highest respect from his colleagues and leaders across the political spectrum.

Though the different departments, which he represented in the Modi Cabinet, emerged as one among the top five in performance ranking, his exit from the ministry surprised many.

Gowda, last week, brought an injunction from a Bengaluru court, preventing media houses from publishing defamatory news about him.

The always-smiling Gowda, who has served as chief minister and state BJP president, was given the heavyweight Railway Ministry in the first term of the Modi government in 2014.

However, after a poor ranking in performance, he was shifted to the low-profile ministry of statistics and programme implementation. After the death of then chemicals and fertilizers minister Ananth Kumar in 2018, the former's portfolio was given to Gowda as additional charge.

When the NDA returned to power in 2019, Gowda retained the chemicals and fertilizers portfolio.

However, with the government facing criticism over rising fertliser prices in recent days, the damage control was left to Minister of State for Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya, who held meetings with officials and ensured that fertiliser companies did not raise prices.

Though Gowda did not speak to the media after resigning, party sources said that party president J P Nadda called him up and told him that he would be given responsibility in the organisation.

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