Sad for divesting irrigation portfolio: Madhuswamy

Newly-appointed Medical Education Minister J C Madhuswamy on Friday said that it is common to be unhappy when the portfolios are changed.

Madhuswamy was speaking to reporters, after visiting Suttur seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami, here. “I am from rural region and I had asked for the portfolio related to farmers and villages. I am little upset as I lost Minor Irrigation portfolio. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is our cricket team captain and I will open innings if he asks me to do so. Even I am ready to be in middle-order,” he said.

Madhuswamy said, "No ministers can hold more than one portfolio and thus, Law and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio was taken back from me. Both Medical Education and Law portfolio are significant," he said.

When asked whether he has been given the charge of Haj and Wakf, he said that he is not aware of that as he left house early in the morning.

RR Nagar MLA N Munirathna, who missed position in Yediyurappa’s cabinet, also met Swami. Both Madhuswamy and Munirathna discussed with Swami for more than an hour. “I am a devotee of the mutt and my visit is non-political,” he said.