Sriramulu, who remains in the Department of Social Welfare, has offered to resign from the cabinet.
Karnataka Minister Dr. Sudhakar K received the additional post of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which until now was in the hands of B Sriramulu. With this, Dr. Sudhakar will be in charge of the Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education portfolios after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appointed him minister in charge of handling the COVID-19 crisis for Bengaluru. Since the start of the pandemic, the government has been criticized for the lack of synergy between the Department of Health and Medical Education to address the pandemic.
However, a major source in the knowledge of the developments has told TNM that this change has little to do with the COVID-19 crisis, but more to do with internal tensions within the BSY government. As part of the changes affected in this reallocation of ministerial portfolios, Sriramulu will now be under the sole responsibility of the Department of Social Welfare. They even took away the Department of Social Welfare from Backward Classes and the CM decided to keep the portfolio for himself for the time being.
Before Monday, the Social Welfare portfolio was in the hands of the Chief Deputy Minister, Govind Karjol, together with the Department of Public Works (PWD). Starting Monday, Karjol will be solely in charge of the PWD. The official notification of the portfolio reallocation has been signed by Governor Vajubhai Valla.
The source said that Sriramulu, an influential leader in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the state, has offered to resign as it is clearly a ploy by the Minister of Water Resources, Ramesh Jarkiholi, who managed to convince the CM to strip Sriramulu of their purses of plums. “This is because Ramesh, who comes from the same Valmiki community, wants to present himself as the highest leader of this Programmed Tribe at the expense of Sriramulu’s disparagement,” the source said.
Ramesh, a former Congressional leader, had led the ‘rebel’ gang of disgruntled MLAs, including Dr. Sudhakar, who resigned from the Congressional-JD (S) government and paved the way for BJP rule in the state. The source said that Sriramulu, who was himself one of the top contenders for the post of executive vice president, is being reassured by the CM to withdraw his resignation.
Yediyurappa, who fought to the CM seat buoyed by the controversial resignation of 17 MLA members, has been forced to strike a balancing act in the cabinet reshuffle, accommodating former rebels and party loyalists.
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