Cabinet representation continues to elude DK, Udupi

Mangalore, July 12: The Jagadish Shettar cabinet has brought disappointment to coastal districts of Udupi and Daskhina Kannada with only one MLA from the region being given the ministerial berth.

Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLC, is the lone representative from the undivided Dakshina Kannada district to have made it to the Shettar cabinet.

The BJP fraternity in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts has expressed its disappointment with Kundapur MLA Haladi Srinivas Shetty even shedding tears publicly. The decision has not gone down well with Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat either, it is being said.

Speaking to Coastaldigest.com, Padmanabha Kottary, President of the district unit of the BJP, said that the district expected more in terms of representation in the cabinet. “I had information that Krishna Palemar's name was in the cabinet list. But I now hear that Governor H R Bharadwaj did not want him and C C Patil and Laxman Savadi to be included in the cabinet, though I am not sure about the authenticity of this information. They have given one berth to Udupi district but we should have got ministers from our district too”, Mr. Kottary said.

Dakshina Kannada district has been eluded of a minister, in spite of there being no district in charge minister for quite some time now.

Yogish Bhat, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, said that he personally accepts the decision of the party.

MLAs Raghupati Bhat, Krishna Palemar, and Haladi Srinivas Shetty were not available for comment.

U T Khader, MLA, and Congress leader, told Coastaldigest.com that injustice had been done to coastal districts. “We welcome their decision to give a ministerial berth to Kota Srinivas Poojary. But leaving out MLAs like Haladi Srinivas Shetty and MLAs from Dakshina Kannada district is unfair. Out of 13 MLAs from our region, only one has been included in the ministry while two MLAs from smaller districts have been given ministerial berths. They dethroned a Chief Minister who hailed from our district and now hardly any power has been given to the coastal districts in terms of ministry. The government in the state, although technically belongs to BJP, it appears as though some coalition government has been formed with caste permutations coming in to decide the CM and Deputy CMs. People will respond to these developments in an apt manner”, Mr. Khader said.

Meanwhile, it is being reported that supporters of Haladi Srinivas Shetty are protesting against the decision of the party. Word is also doing rounds that the likes of Raghupati Bhat are considering resignation.