Karnataka: BS Yediyurappa’s new cabinet is predominantly Lingayat
Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa expanded his cabinet on Tuesday by inducting 17 ministers in the first phase. The majority of the ministers in the new Karnataka cabinet are Lingayats.
After more than three weeks of waiting, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa finally has his cabinet. The first expansion saw only 17 ministerial berths being filled with the rest left vacant. Yediyurappa has kept the caste matrix in mind with seven out of 17 belonging to Lingayats and 3 to Vokkaligas. There are 4 ministers from the SC/ST community, 2 OBCs and 1 Brahmin minister.
However, this cabinet appears more focussed on appeasing the core voter base of the Bharatiya Janata Party which is in North Karnataka. In total, there are 8 Lingayats including CM Yedyiyurappa which means this community has a 44 per cent hold in the new cabinet.
Furthermore, 4 MLAs from Bengaluru have also been allotted ministerial berths. It was expected that in Yediyurappa's new cabinet, equal representation would be given keeping in mind sub-regional aspirations but that has not happened.
The Vokkaligas, who form 13 per cent of the state's population, have three ministerial berths. R Ashok, CN Ashwathanarayana and CT Ravi will have to spearhead the BJP's move into the old Mysore region but might face difficulties after a Lingayat (BS Yediyurappa) brought down a government-run by HD Kumaraswamy, who is a Vokkaliga.
Govind M Karjol, Prabhu Chavan and Independent legislator H Nagesh are from the Dalit community in the ministry and account for nearly 25 per cent of the state's 6.5 crore population. B Sreeramulu, from the Valmiki community, is also a part of the ministry. The only Brahmin minister is S Suresh Kumar who has been a former minister and the party's state spokesperson for long. MLA Shashikala Jolle is the lone woman minister in the cabinet.
Many regions, however, have been neglected. Coastal and Hyderabad-Karnataka do not have any representation but six MLAs from the Mumbai-Karnataka region have got ministerial berths. Now 16 seats out of 34 are vacant as the BJP had assured the disqualified MLAs from the Congress and JD(S) that they would be rewarded for their help in forming the government.