Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jul 4: The hope of Siddaramaiah being given cabinet rank facilities in his capacity as the chairman of coordination committee of the coalition government appears to have been dashed. It is said that if he is given this recognition, he might possibly be caught in the tricky 'office of profit' rules as per which he might even be forced to leave his membership of the legislative assembly.

The state government is also worried about handing over a weapon to the opposition if it gives this rank to Siddaramaiah, which it can use as an effective tool against the government. Congress party had once in the past faced such a tricky situation when Sonia Gandhi was given the post of the president of National Advisory Council but after Sonia faced the prospect of losing her membership of Lok Sabha, she had escaped by reigning as president of the council.

Among the committee chairman, Siddaramaiah, and members, K C Venugopal and deputy chief minister, Dr G Parameshwar, chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy and JD(S) nominee, Danish Ali, only Ali is eligible to be given cabinet status and still escape from 'office of profit' clause. It is said that legal experts are of the opinion that the government can modify office of profit rules and then give cabinet rank to its chairperson.