Nothing doing, Congress top brass tells seekers of portfolio change

The Congress high command has refused to entertain Karnataka Ministers, who were not satisfied with portfolio allocation in the Siddaramaiah government and had rushed to the national capital with grouses over the portfolios allocated to them.

When party veteran K H Muniyappa met central leaders including Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal here on Monday, seeking a change in portfolio, he was told in no uncertain terms that such requests would not be entertained till the next Lok Sabha polls.

Muniyappa was sworn in the first round of Cabinet formation and has been allocated the food and civil supplies department. But Muniyappa, sources said, wanted revenue or health department.

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Sources said the leaders told Muniyappa to focus on governance to ensure that the party is able to deliver on promises made to the people in its manifesto.

In fact, the portfolio allocation to ministers in the newly elected government was delayed by more than 48 hours after the full cabinet was sworn in as some other ministers including G Parameshwara, Ramalinga Reddy, and B Nagendra too expressed reservations.

The party leadership, however, refused to tinker with the list finalized after protracted discussions with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Muniyappa, who has served as the Union Minister of State in the UPA Government for 10 years, after meeting Rahul Gandhi claimed that he has no issues with his portfolio and is ready to work in the government as the minister for Food and Civil Supplies.

He also said his priority now is to implement the 10 kg rice scheme, one among five guarantee schemes made by Congress in its Karnataka manifesto.

He also said he met Rahul and Venugopal to thank them for making him the Minister in the state.