BSY rejigs portfolios, some ministers skip meet

CHIEF MINISTER B S Yediyurappa on Thursday handed out portfolios to seven new ministers who had been inducted into his cabinet on January 13, and effected modifications to portfolios of 10 ministers, triggering quick disgruntlement amongst some in his Cabinet.
In the most important modifications, Forest and Environment Minister Anand Singh – an accused in a CBI case of unlawful mining and violations of forest legal guidelines – was divested of the forest portfolio and given tourism whereas senior minister J C Madhuswamy, who was in control of regulation and parliamentary affairs, was divested of his complete portfolio and given the minor portfolios of medical schooling and Kannada and tradition.
change of portfolio is being seen as a possible fallout of the unprecedented ruckus within the state legislative council final yr when the BJP tried to oust the Congress chairman. The regulation and parliamentary affairs portfolio has been given to Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Madhuswamy was amongst a bunch of seemingly sad ministers who didn’t flip up for a Cabinet assembly referred to as Thursday by Yediyurappa. The different ministers who gave the assembly a miss had been new inductee M T B Nagaraj, who’s reportedly sad with the excise portfolio, and Okay Gopalaiah, who’s left with horticulture after being divested of the meals and civil provides portfolio.
Soon after the brand new allocations had been introduced, Nagaraj, Gopalaiah and one other sad minister Okay Sudhakar, who was divested of the medical schooling portfolio, held a gathering to debate their considerations. Incidentally, the three ministers are all new entrants to the BJP together with Anand Singh. They had been amongst 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs who defected to BJP in 2019 to assist Yediyurappa come to energy.
The BJP authorities performed down considerations of dissidence .
Anand Singh, whose forest portfolio has gone to BJP veteran Arvind Limbavalli, mentioned on Thursday: “The CM spoke to me about the change in my portfolio. I agreed and said I have some experience in the tourism ministry and cited it as a preference. The tenure as forest minister was an opportunity to learn about a new ministry.” A four-time MLA and businessman with mining pursuits, Singh was appointed forest minister in February 2020 regardless of being accused of unlawful mining and forest crimes in 15 instances since 2012, together with CBI instances.
New Law Minister Bommai, who performed the press briefing after the Cabinet assembly, mentioned all of the ministers who didn’t flip up for the assembly had excused themselves. “Following the Cabinet expansion and changes in portfolios, the CM has spoken to many of the ministers. The ministers have spoken what is on their minds and the CM is looking at how these things can be addressed…” he mentioned.
“Madhuswamy was in Tumakuru. Some others also sought permission and stayed away. There is no question of disgruntlement… There is no differentiation done on basis of whether MLAs are core BJP members or new entrants,” he mentioned.
Among the seven new ministers inducted on January 13, Murugesh Nirani has been given the mining portfolio, C P Yogeshwar has been given minor irrigation, social gathering veteran S Angara the fisheries and ports ministry, Arvind Limbavalli the forest ministry, R Shankar municipal administration, Nagaraj the excise ministry and Umesh Katti the meals and civil provides ministry.