Chief minister DK Shivakumar listens to grievances of citizens at his residence in Sadashivanagar, Bengaluru
Shivakumar will have to ensure the exercise of filling the two vacancies does not reopen the wounds of the Aug expansion, especially given the small window to the 2028 polls. ”
Senior party functionaries said the immediate challenge for Shivakumar is to ensure the vacancies do not become a trigger for another round of discontent. The two vacancies have now brought those expectations back into play,” a functionary said. Krishnappa has maintained a stoic silence, but Jayachandra has made his displeasure clear, saying Shivakumar’s cabinet looks more like an “all-party govt” than a Congress cabinet, a remark seen as criticism of the prominence given to those who joined Congress from other parties over long-time party loyalists. Political analyst Vishwas Shetty said: “The timing makes the exercise particularly sensitive.
Bengaluru: With B Nagendra’s resignation as planning and statistics minister, chief minister DK Shivakumar has two vacancies in his council of ministers, but filling them could prove easier than managing expectations of those who miss out. “The Aug expansion created expectations that were impossible to meet. Indi MLA Yashavantharayagouda V Patil quit the assembly, Jayachandra turned down the pro-tem speaker’s post and accused the party of ignoring senior MLAs. This time too, dissent is already brewing. Several other MLAs are also mounting pressure by meeting the party high command in Delhi. The frontrunner for Nagendra’s slot is E Annapoorna Tukaram, Sandur MLA. Besides being an ST, the first-time MLA would address the party’s demand for a woman in the cabinet and would also address regional representation. Yet, Shivakumar is keen to pacify former CM Siddaramaiah , who is strongly backing Byadgi MLA Basavaraj Shivannanavar, a Kuruba like Siddaramaiah. He is also parallelly facing pressure from fellow Vokkaligas Krishnappa and Jayachandra, as well as Lingayat MLAs Hebbalkar and HK Patil. With BJP’s padayatra from Raichur to Ballari targeting the govt over corruption and Nagendra’s exit, any fresh unrest within Congress could give the opposition another line of attack.
The earlier exercise had led to open resentment.