For the first time, since the BJP-JD(S) government was formed in Karnataka, the coalition has put in place a full strength 34-man ministry, as outlined during the government formation in January 2006. The JD(S) added three ministers and the BJP added two during a Cabinet expansion this week, taking their respective ministerial numbers to 16 and 18. The Cabinet expansion has seen both parties pandering to the interests of the two major communities in the state — the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s party inducted two leaders, GT Devegowda and Alangur R Srinivas, belonging to his own Vokkaliga community, and a third candidate, HS Mahadev Prasad, from the Lingayat community. The BJP inducted two Lingayats — S Shivanna and Appu Pattanachetty — into the Cabinet. The JD(S) did not induct a minority minister to replace Zameer Ahmed who recently resigned from the ministry after learning of a move to drop him. Kumaraswamy said the Muslim representation would be restricted to Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari. While the JD(S) gave representation in its ministry to leaders from its traditional stronghold in south Karnataka, the BJP gave one berth to the north Karnataka region and one to the south. The total number of ministers in the government from the two dominant communities now stands at 21. This has caused heartburn among several MLAs and MLCs from the coalition, especially among women, since they have not been represented in the ministry. BJP deputy chief minister BS Yediyurappa dropped his insistence on the induction of his close associate and MLC Shobha Karandlaje following pressure from within the party. Both parties have lined up a list of posts as heads of boards and corporations in the state for leaders and party workers who failed to make it to the ministry. One reason for the delay in the ministry expansion in the past year has been the Office of Profit issue. With the Office of Profit Bill in the clear, the JD(S) and BJP ventured to expand the ministry. The coalition is hoping that the offer of posts to state boards and corporations will keep legislators who have been denied ministerial berths in good humor.
