Sadanananda Gowda to be Dropped from Union Cabinet?
New Delhi: Prime minister Narendra Modi will be leaving on a foreign tour next week. Just prior to his departure, he is expected to reshuffle the Union cabinet.
Some seniors are likely to be axed and new blood is expected to be infused for a better image in preparation for the forthcoming assembly elections in some states, said reports in some sections of the media in the national capital.
The flash reports said that, among others, minister of Law D V Sadananda Gowda might be dropped. He could be drafted into organizational work as the BJP’s national vice president. One of the vice presidents until now is B S Yeddyurappa, who was recently appointed president of the party’s Karnataka unit.
Some sources in the BJP said that since Sadananda Gowda has a respectable image as the former CM of Karnataka, he may not be unceremoniously dropped. He is only rated one among a few ministers who have not performed up to the mark.
If the workload is the reason for non-performance, Gowda maybe provided with a deputy and he may still continue in the cabinet.
Cross-currents
After speaking to various persons that matter in the party, this correspondent gathered that many cross-currents operated in his case.
A few complaints against him and family members are being heard in courts. A case about two sites belonging to him and an MLA in Bengaluru which were clubbed together and a commercial building raised against rules is being heard in the higher courts.
A complaint filed against his son Kartik by a model and movie actress regarding sexual assault was dismissed some time ago. Within a year, the same woman was handed a verdict, considered quite harsh, over her petty tantrums with a traffic cop, which incident had taken place over two years ago.
Her lawyer, soon after the ruling was pronounced, said outside the court that there were flaws in it and announced her plan to go in appeal.
The matters may not be connected. But as the saying goes, Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion. His being the minister of Law at the Union level might have led to unnecessary suspicions when such delicate matters cropped up, said a few party functionaries on condition of anonymity.
However, some others gave a different idea behind the plan. Yeddyurappa was obviously chosen to head the party unit on caste considerations in order to rally Lingayat votes in its favour, as it happened in 2013. But some other leaders in the state have accused him of a self-centred attitude and favouritism towards his immediate supporters in the process of restructuring the district units.
In this backdrop, Sadananda Gowda may be asked to be a functionary of the high command to oversee the state unit, much to Yeddyurappa’s discomfort, though.
Sources close to Gowda have said that he could be aware of the future developments and with this idea in mind, recently he has been spending more time in the state than in the national capital.