JOIN USHigher Education Minister G T Devegowda, who is sulking over the portfolio allotted to him, received support from senior JD(S) leader and Hunsur MLA A H Vishwanath.
Vishwanth on Staurday urged Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to review the portfolio given to Devegowda.
Speaking to reporters here, Vishwanath said that Devegowda must have been given a portfolio related to farmers, land or public.
Kumaraswamy should review the portfolio of Devegowda, he suggested.
Vishwanath said that neither the ministers nor MLAs should express their dissent in public as it may send the wrong message to the people. They must concentrate on development activities, he suggested.
He said that former chief minister Siddaramaiah should not have visited Badami when there is a difference of opinion among the Congress party leaders.
He asked Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, Revenue Minister R V Deshpande and Siddaramaiah to resolve the issues in the party as it will have an adverse effect on the coalition government.
‘No Kuruba minister’
Vishwanath said that though 80% of Kuruba community people had voted for Congress, the party had failed to make a single Kuruba MLA as a minister. “It is a failure of the Congress high command and Siddaramaiah. Two Kuruba MLAs elected on the Congress tickets must be inducted in the Cabinet and Siddaramaiah must take initiative in this regard,” he demanded.
Kumaraswamy pacifies
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who had maintained that he wouldn’t interfere into the Congress’s affairs, on Saturday took it upon himself to reach out to each and every disgruntled MLA in the Congress camp, in an attempt to pacify them.
Kumaraswamy, who had paid a visit to sulking Congress MLA M B Patil’s house on Friday, had later told reporters that the grand old party would resolve its own issues, and that his role was limited. However, worried about the fate of his government, Kumaraswamy is said to have dialled 15 to 20 Congress MLAs to request them not to take any drastic measures.
Sources said that Satish Jarkiholi, Eshwar Khandre and B C Patil were among the Congress MLAs whom Kumaraswamy telephoned.
He is said to have told them that the BJP was keeping a close watch on the ongoing developments and any wrong move either in the Congress or the JD(S) camp would directly impact the government’s survival.