Dr. Sudhakar has been assigned an additional position in the Ministry of Health, a position previously held by Mr. Sriramulu.
Bangalore:
The Karnataka Chief Minister’s office, BS Yediyurappa, released pictures of the Chief Minister along with his two cabinet colleagues – Dr. K Sudhakar and B Sriramulu on Tuesday. That wouldn’t be unusual under normal circumstances, but the picture is presented in the context of a change in wallets that saw Dr. Sudhakar, a medical professional who was in charge of medical education, in additional charge of the ministry of health, a since Sriramulu had celebrated.
Sriramulu has received the social welfare portfolio.
“Since I have a background in medicine, technically speaking, medical education and health should have been a single department as in all the states of the country. So I think the honorable Chief Minister understood the complexities of having two different departments. Practically not it’s possible and the pandemic effort suffers. So to reduce and control the pandemic, this is the arrangement that the prime minister has made in the interest of Karnataka, “said Sudhakar, who has been the face of the Covid state response for months. .
Sriramulu, according to some reports, is unhappy with the development. He even held a closed-door meeting with the Chief Minister on Monday, without speaking to the media.
But Dr. Sudhakar denied the reports, telling NDTV: “There is absolutely no conflict. There is consensus among our senior leaders. The senior minister has given a highly coveted portfolio to Sri Sriramulu, who is my superior, in the department of social welfare “. “
This is certainly not the first time that Yediyurappa has faced cabinet-related problems.
In July 2019, when he took office after the collapse of the coalition government between Congress and the Janata Dal Secular, Yediyurappa was the only cabinet member for weeks, at a time when Karnataka was facing severe flooding. He even visited Delhi to clear names and expand his cabinet, but then Amit Shah (who was then president of the BJP) reportedly returned to the state to oversee flood relief.
Yediyurappa also needs to accommodate various MLAs who had passed from Congress and JD (S), as a reward for helping him establish a BJP government. This, while making sure that those who were already with the BJP did not bother.
Several of the new BJP members got places; a few who did not regain their seats during the by-elections did not. Mr. Yediyurappa has said that he would travel to Delhi again a few days ago, but that trip never materialized. All of this fuels speculation that Yediyurappa, despite being the BJP’s chief prime minister of the south and by far the party’s biggest name in his state, is not a favorite of his high command.
He has an additional post to maneuver now, after CT Ravi stepped down as Tourism Minister after receiving a central post.
The BJP is comfortable in terms of numbers in the Karnataka Assembly, but the composition of the cabinet is being watched with interest.
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