Mysore/Mysuru: Five-time MLA M.P. Appachu Ranjan deserves a Ministerial berth in the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP Ministry in the State, said office-bearers of Mysuru Kodava Samaja who met Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at the BJP party office in the city this morning. The CM visited the BJP office for the first time today after becoming the CM. 

Submitting a memorandum to the CM, members of Kodava Samaja said that Ranjan, who represents Madikeri Assembly constituency, is among the senior MLAs of the BJP in the State and hence is aspiring and also a deserving candidate for a Ministerial berth. President of the Samaja K.M. Belliappa and other office-bearers were present.

Appachu Ranjan had served as Minister for Youth Services and Sports during the regime of Jagadish Shettar as Chief Minister. Appachu Ranjan belongs to the minority Kodava community and the people of Kodagu believe that a Cabinet berth to Ranjan will render justice to the district, they told the CM.

They told the CM that the Kodava community has no representation in the Government to ensure social, economic and political justice and successive Governments have ignored the community till now though the district was once a ‘C State.’

“Kodagu has a strong BJP base since years and the district has got a raw deal from the party and it has been demonstrated many times including when the community was ignored when you formed the Cabinet. There are over 2.35 lakh community members and it needs a fair representation in the Cabinet,” they told the CM. 

The community members told the CM that Appachu Ranjan had worked for the welfare of people of Kodagu and also built the party and had successfully won all the MLA elections with a huge margin. “There are many burning issues in Kodagu of late and only a Minister from the Kodava community can ensure justice instead of an in-charge Minister from any other district who has no knowledge of Kodagu’s topography, culture and people,” the Kodava Samaja members told the CM.