Bengaluru: A miffed former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa has declined the offer of a cabinet rank given to him by the present CM Basavaraj Bommai.
Not just BSY, murmurs of discontent are surfacing from ministers over their portfolios and from those who could not make it to the Cabinet.
While rejecting the cabinet rank, Yediyurappa told the CM to “extend only those benefits given to an immediate past chief minister”. Nothing more.
Yediyurappa, in a letter, requested Bommai to withdraw the order giving him cabinet rank till the end of Bommai’s tenure as chief minister.
Sources said the facilities offered included perks, vehicle and staff, but it was reportedly to help Yediyurappa keep government bungalow Cauvery, the designated residence of a serving chief minister.
Yediyurappa is upset that the BJP high command has neither announced a new role for himself nor given a position of importance to his son BY Vijayendra.
Meanwhile, even as ministers started airing their dissatisfaction over their portfolios, Bommai Sunday made efforts to mollify the two ministers who had been more vocal.
He met tourism and ecology minister Anand Singh and municipal administration minister MTB Nagaraj to listen to their grouses. “I met Anand Singh and Nagaraj separately and heard their viewpoints. I told Singh I can understand his feelings and will try to save his honour. He agreed,” said Bommai.
Singh feels the portfolios assigned to him do not match his stature as a four-time MLA and senior politician. He is among the 17 MLAs who quit the JD(S)-Congress coalition in order to pave the way for the BJP government in 2018.
Nagaraj, who was housing minister in the JD(S)-Congress government, said: “I am not unhappy with the portfolio allotted to me, but I was expecting one better than housing as I had handled it two years ago. The CM has assured us to look into it,” said Nagaraj.
Meanwhile, a few BJP legislators left out of the cabinet have started putting pressure as there are three vacant slots to be filled in the cabinet.
