Amid resentment over portfolio allocation,Yediyurappa carries out second rejig within 24 hours

A day after allocation ofportfolios, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Fridaycarried out another rejig, reflecting the fissures in his17-month-old government over the exercise.

According to the notification issued by thegovernment with the consent of Governor Vajubhai Vala onFriday,Medical Education Minister J C Madhuswamy has beenrelieved of Kannada and Culture and given additional charge ofHajj and Wakf, which was given to K C Narayana Gowda onThursday.

Aravind Limbavali will now handle the Kannada andCulture Department besides the Forest portfolio.

According to the notification, MLC N Nagaraja (M T BNagaraj), who was yesterday given Excise, was divested of theportfolio and given municipal administration, sugarcanedevelopment from the industries and commerce department.

The Chief Minister allotted the Excise portfolio toK Gopalaiah.The horticulture department he was allocated onThursday, has been given to MLC R Shankar who was divested ofmunicipal administration.

Yediyurappa divested one of his portfolios ofplanning, programme monitoring and statistics department to KC Narayana Gowda who is also holding the portfolio of YouthEmpowerment and Sports.

Despite another rejig within 24 hours, resentmentcontinued.

Sources close to Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar saidhe was upset over the Medical Education portfolio being takenaway from him.

Speaking to reporters, Sudhakar said he would discusswith the Chief Minister regarding the reshuffle.

''Earlier it was difficult to manage the pandemicbecause Health and Medical Education departments were handledby two different ministers.COVID-19 was brought under controlafter merging both Health and Medical Education departments,''the minister said.

He said the cabinet reshuffle should have been donekeeping in view the vaccination drive.

BJP sources claimed that Madhuswamy continued toremain upset with the reshuffle after being relieved of Lawand Parliamentary Affairs, which was a major portfolio forhim.

A week after expanding his cabinet, Yediyurappa onThursday allocated portfolios to seven new ministers and alsoreshuffled the departments of some others.

The exercise, however, did not go down well with asection of his ministerial colleagues as they were reportedlyupset over the departments allocated to them and some did notattend the cabinet meeting held after the reshuffle.

Yediyurappa, however, sought to brush off the resentment,saying some kind of displeasure was anticipated.PTI GMS BNWELCOME BNWELCOME