Karnataka Congress Faces Internal Rebellion, 8 MLAs Threaten to Resign Over Non-inclusion in Cabinet

The revolt broke out in Congress after veteran MLAs MB Patil, Roshan Baig, Ramalinga Reddy, M Krishnappa, Dinesh Gundurao, Ishwar Khandre, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Satish Jharkiholi were kept out of the cabinet on Wednesday.

Bengaluru, Jun 8: The Congress in Karnataka is faced with an internal rebellion as eight MLAs threatened to resign after they failed to make it to the state cabinet. The virtual split in the Congress is threatening the stability of the JD(S)-Congress government in the state, which came to power two weeks ago.

The revolt broke out in Congress after veteran MLAs MB Patil, Roshan Baig, Ramalinga Reddy, M Krishnappa, Dinesh Gundurao, Ishwar Khandre, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Satish Jharkiholi were kept out of the cabinet on Wednesday. They have held several rounds of talks to chalk out their future strategy.

Karnataka deputy chief minister and state Congress chief G Parameshwara held a late night meeting with disgruntled MLAs on Thursday but seems to have failed to quell the rebellion. “Yes, there is some tension there, but I am confident that the Congress leaders will take the right decision,” Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Friday.

On June 7, Congress party workers protested as expectant candidates Roshan Baig and Ramalinga Reddy were not given ministerial berths. 25 legislators were inducted in the state cabinet including 23 from the coalition partners – Congress and JD(S) – and one BSP MLA and an Independent.

The Congress ministers were R V Deshpande, D K Shivakumar, KJ George, Krishna Byre Gowda, Shiva Shankar Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, U.T. Abdul Khader, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Shivanand Patil, Venkat Ramanappa, Rajasekhar Basavaraj Patil, Puttaranga Shetty and Jayamala.

The state can have a 34-member cabinet, or 15 per cent of the 225-member legislative assembly, including one nominated, as per Constitutional norms. The coalition partners agreed to share the posts in the ratio of 21 for the Congress, including the post of Deputy Chief Minister and 11 for JD-S, including the chief minister.

While the grand old party was given charge of 22 ministries, including home, irrigation, health, agriculture and women and child welfare ministries; 12 ministries, including finance and excise, public works department, education, tourism and transport ministries were allocated to the JD(S).