Bengaluru: Chief minister DK Shivakumar will head to New Delhi Sunday to discuss portfolio allocation and a possible cabinet rejig with the Congress high command, amid growing demands from disgruntled functionaries and efforts to ensure social and regional balance in the expanded ministry. If everything goes according to plan, the portfolio distribution to new ministers may take place early next week.KPCC president BK Hariprasad is also expected to accompany Shivakumar. The talks come ahead of the monsoon session of the state legislature, beginning Aug 13, with Shivakumar keen to settle the issues before the House meets.The state leadership is weighing limited changes to the ministry, including replacing one or two newly inducted ministers to accommodate functionaries left out of the cabinet. One proposal is to replace Magadi MLA HC Balakrishna with Vijayanagar legislator M Krishnappa, both Vokkaligas. Another suggests replacing TB Jayachandra with GS Patil, who has been nominated the assembly speaker.The lone vacancy could go to Sandur MLA Annapoorna E Tukaram or Gulbarga North legislator Khaneez Fathima. If KH Muniyappa is dropped from the cabinet, his daughter Roopakala Shashidhar could be considered under the women’s quota. If the high command rejects a rejig, Annapoorna is seen as the likely choice for the vacant berth.PWD minister Satish Jarkiholi said, “We expect the process to be finalised by Monday evening.”Shivakumar has also stepped up efforts to contain dissent. Friday night, he met former CM and Congress working committee member Siddaramaiah. The two are understood to have discussed ways to settle differences before the legislature session.Saturday, Shivakumar met Jayachandra, who had expressed resentment after being denied a cabinet berth and indicated he could sit on the opposition benches. The CM managed to convince him to take up the role of pro-tem speaker. After the meeting, Jayachandra said his differences had been resolved. “It is a constitutional obligation. I have to discharge the responsibilities entrusted to me under the Constitution by the party. If I do not do that, people will call me a coward,” he said. “I had only expressed my opinion. Now, there is clarity on all those issues,” he added.Shivakumar said: “Now, the governor has nominated him (Jayachandra) as the pro tem speaker. So, he has to conduct the assembly going forward. That is why I have come to seek his guidance on what needs to be done. The speaker cannot be treated like someone in any other position. There is a certain status attached to that position. Besides, the two of us are personal friends and like brothers.”Congress has also reached out to Krishnappa, HK Patil, HC Mahadevappa, Dinesh Gundu Rao and SN Narayanaswamy among other senior MLAs, who missed the bus. The party’s Karnataka in-charge, Randeep Singh Surjewala, has been involved in the efforts, while Mahadevappa met him in Delhi.Supporters of SN Subba Reddy and SN Narayanaswamy staged protests in Bagepalli and Kolar respectively after the MLAs were left out of the ministry. Shivakumar plans to visit Chikkaballapur and Kolar Monday to pacify them.Industries minister MB Patil said the differences were manageable. “There is no major confusion either in the govt or in the Congress party. Just as minor differences exist in a family, it is natural for them to exist in a party as well. The chief minister, former CM, and the high command will resolve everything,” he said.On women’s representation, Harapanahalli MLA MP Latha Mallikarjun said, “There are six women MLAs and three women MLCs in the party. Women should get representation in the cabinet. The state has a large population of women, and this issue has also been brought to the notice of high command.”She clarified that she was not seeking a cabinet berth for herself. “There are senior women legislators, and irrespective of who gets the opportunity, women should be given representation,” she said.
