Mysore/Mysuru: The old Mysuru region districts of Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Ramanagara has again been meted out a raw deal as can be seen in the formation of the new BJP Government under Basavaraj Bommai, with 29 Ministers taking oath yesterday.

Barring K.C. Narayanagowda, who represents K.R. Pet  Assembly segment in Mandya district, none from these six districts have been inducted into the Ministry. Narayanagowda, who was a Minister in the previous B.S. Yediyurappa Government, may have got the Cabinet berth as a reward this time too, as he was one of the 17 Legislators who were instrumental in the pulling down of JD(S)-Congress coalition Government in 2019. 

The old Mysuru region, which was ruled by the erstwhile Mysuru Maharajas, has got a raw deal and this has disappointed many political leaders of this region. The neglect of the region has also given scope for the opposition Congress to lash out at the BJP for its disdain towards old Mysuru region, which has given the BJP a foothold with good support in elections.

At present, the BJP has a total of 8 MLAs from the region — K.C. Narayangowda of K.R. Pet, who has been made a Minister, S.A. Ramdas of Krishnaraja, L. Nagendra of Chamaraja, B. Harshavardhan of Nanjangud, K.G. Bopaiah of Virajpet, Appachhu Ranjan of Madikeri, Preetham Gowda of Hassan and C.S. Niranjan Kumar of Gundlupet. 

But barring Narayangowda, none of the other seven MLAs who come from  different districts have been inducted into the Cabinet. This was the same situation in the previous B.S. Yediyurappa headed BJP Government and this has continued in the Basavaraj Bommai Government too.

Now going back to the earlier times when the BJP had little base in the State, leaders like H. Gangadharan and H.S. Shankarlingegowda gave hopes to the BJP by winning in Mysuru city Assembly segments. Later,  Maruti Rao Pawar strengthened the BJP further in the city by winning from N.R. Assembly segment in 1994, which is considered as a Muslim stronghold. Elsewhere in Mysuru district, Basavaraju won from Periyapatna, C.H. Vijayashankar from Hunsur, Bharathishankar from T. Narasipur and Suneetha Veerappagowda from Bannur. 

No representation to Kodagu district, a BJP fortress

Coming to Kodagu, both the Assembly segments in the district — Virajpet and Madikeri — have been won by BJP, with K.G. Bopaiah representing Virajpet and Appachhu Ranjan from Madikeri. The district has been a BJP stronghold for the past two decades. 

But the party High Command seems to have ignored the importance of giving representation to Kodagu district, which has long been supportive of the BJP in almost all elections in the past two decades. 

Appachhu Ranjan, a former Minister, who had served for a brief period as a Minister in the earlier BJP Government when the party first came to power, is a 5-time MLA, while K.G. Bopaiah, who had functioned as Legislative Assembly Speaker, is a 4-time MLA. But despite their seniority and vast experience, the party has ignored them in the formation of the Cabinet.

Madikeri MLA Appachhu Ranjan, a Kodava, was very much hopeful of a Cabinet berth this time. But he is disappointed over not being considered. The other MLA from the district K.G. Bopaiah too was an aspirant for a Ministerial berth. But he too failed to make it into the Cabinet.

The non-inclusion of these two Legislators had disheartened the people of Kodagu, who had great expectations of the district getting a representation, particularly at a time when the district has been reeling under a series of  natural disasters for the past couple of years. 

The district is also facing other serious problems such as man-animal conflicts, wild elephant menace, floods, loss of crops due to natural calamities and elephant attacks etc. 

The people of the district were hopeful that an MLA from the district alone can seriously take up their problems and try to find lasting solutions for them. 

But all their hopes and expectations have been dashed overnight, with the BJP High Command ignoring the Ministerial berth claims of the district. In the absence of any representation, V. Somanna of Bengaluru, was made the Kodagu District In-charge Minister by the previous BSY Government.

The people are all the more upset as the district has been solidly supporting the BJP for over two decades with the party winning almost all the elections right from Gram Panchayat to Lok Sabha. Kodagu district, which is a part of Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha seat, gave wide support to party candidate Pratap Simha in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which ensured that the MP had easy sailing in the election.

Meanwhile, Minister Kota Srinivasa Poojary, from neighbouring Dakshina Kannada district, has been made In-charge of Kodagu  district yesterday for handling COVID crisis and taking up flood relief and rehabilitation works. 

Chamarajanagar too deprived of representation

Chamarajanagar too is among the  districts of old Mysuru region  which has been deprived of a representation in the Cabinet. The BJP has a lone MLA – C.S. Niranjan Kumar of Gundlupet in the district. Though the district is not considered as a BJP stronghold, party candidate V. Sreenivasa Prasad succeeded in winning the Lok Sabha seat from Chamarajanagar (SC reserved) in the 2019 LS polls, which goes to prove that the BJP is gradually making a foothold in the district. 

While  Chamarajanagar MLA Puttarangashetty was made a Minister in the Congress Government, there is no one from Chamarajanagar in the current BJP dispensation, which has disappointed the party supporters, who were hopeful that the lone BJP MLA Niranjan Kumar would make it to the Cabinet. 

Though expelled BSP MLA from Kollegal N. Mahesh is all set to join the BJP today, it would not make any difference as far as representation to the district is concerned, as Mahesh is most unlikely to be inducted into the Cabinet even in the coming days.

With no Ministers from the district, S. Suresh Kumar from Bengaluru who was the Primary and Secondary Education Minister in the previous BSY Government was made the Chamarajanagar district In-charge Minister. Previously, V. Somanna too had served as the District Minister earlier for a brief period.

The people at large feel that a Legislator from the district should have been made District In-charge as he would have a better understanding of the problems faced by the district and also can feel the pulse of the people.

S.T. Somashekar made In-charge of COVID and flood relief

Hours after he was sworn in as a Minister yesterday, S.T. Somashekar, who represents Yeshwantpur Assembly segment in Bengaluru, was made the In-charge of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts for handling COVID crisis and floods in both the districts. Somashekar has the experience of serving as Mysuru District In-charge Minister in the previous BSY Government for about 15 months.