Karnataka: Days after cabinet rejig, rumblings growing in BJP; CM Basavaraj Bommai denies dissent

Karnataka: Days after cabinet rejig, rumblings growing in BJP; CM Basavaraj Bommai denies dissent

Shankar RajUpdated: Wednesday, August 11, 2021, 10:46 PM IST
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(PTI Photo)

Bengaluru: The rumblings in the Karnataka unit of the BJP over the recent Cabinet expansion has grown louder even as Tourism Minister Anand Singh shuttered his MLA office in Hospet in Vijayanagar district, apparently to show his unhappiness over the portfolio allocation, media reports indicated.

A worried Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Wednesday reiterated that he will talk to Singh and resolve the issue. “Me and Anand Singh have been friends for three decades now. We are continuously in touch. Yesterday, I spoke to him. Today also I will speak to him. I am aware of his views and I too have conveyed my views. Everything will be set right after he comes and speaks to me,” Bommai said.

The CM denied having spoken to the party central leadership over the growing dissent in the Cabinet and among the MLAs though it is aware of the rumblings in Karnataka.

Quoting a source, indianexpress.com said Singh met Bommai Sunday to submit his resignation letter. The CM did not accept it and comforted him saying that the issue would be soon resolved. “He has closed his office in Vijayanagar as he wants the forest portfolio which he held in the previous Yediyurappa government along with another plum portfolio energy. Though Singh has closed the office and kept a resignation letter ready, he is positive that everything will be fine and he will get the portfolio that he wanted,” the source was quoted.

Significantly, V Sunil Kumar has not yet taken charge of the energy portfolio allocated to him. “I will take charge of the energy department after three days,” he told the media.;

Like Singh, MTB Nagaraj has openly expressed his unhappiness over the municipal administration, small scale and public sector industries portfolios he was allocated. He reportedly wants the housing portfolio. Nagaraj said on Wednesday that Bommai had promised him to change his portfolio soon and he has faith in him.

Nagraj and Singh belong to the ‘Mumbai Boys’ – the turncoat MLAs who helped the BJP to come to power by pulling down the JD(S)-Cong Kumaraswamy government. Now they are demanding their pound of flesh given their role in bringing the BJP back to power.

“Those who didn’t make it to the cabinet are in New Delhi and meeting leaders there, while few are meeting Bommai and others are reaching out to state organising secretary Arun Kumar and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa,” the online media portal quoted a BJP leader.

Meanwhile, hundreds of BJP workers from the Kodagu district came to Bengaluru and protested at Freedom Park over not making Appachu Ranjan, MLA of Madikeri constituency, a minister.

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