'Rift in Cabinet' is Media creation Says Yeddyurappa

BANGALORE, Jun 7: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Saturday sought to downplay the criticism by some of his ministerial colleagues and asserted that there was no dissidence in the Cabinet.

‘Media creation’

Yeddyurappa, who paid floral tributes to the former Chief Minister Devaraj Urs on his 27th death anniversary, told presspersons here that there were no differences among the Cabinet Ministers and “reports about dissension in the Ministry are a media creation”.

“We are all united and the Government’s performance has been judged by the electorate in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections,” the Chief Minster said.

Conclave

According to reports, Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure G. Janardhan Reddy held consultations with six Ministers and some legislators in Bellary two days ago and this has irked the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership.

The Chief Minister said he did not intend to reshuffle the Ministry, adding “it is not before me now”.

He refused to attach any importance to party legislator M.P. Renukacharya’s statement on the need to drop a few Ministers based on their performance. Mr. Renukacharya is reported to have said “there are some inefficient Ministers. Some officials don’t respect the views of legislators.”

The Chief Minister said State BJP president D.V. Sadananda Gowda would sort out differences, if any, related to the party organisation.

Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa has alleged that the Chief Minister had encouraged dynastic politics by fielding his son, B.Y. Raghavendra, from Shimoga in the Lok Sabha polls.

Minister for Excise Katta Subramanya Naidu said he was pained by Renukacharya’s statement and added that he would urge Sadananda Gowda to look into the matter and take disciplinary action against the MLA if necessary.

Renukacharya had alleged that Naidu “only boasts about various achievements and gives the least priority to development works and organisational matters”.

‘Rumours’

Speaking to presspersons at the helipad here soon after his arrival to participate in the Vikasa Sankalpa Utsav to mark the completion of the BJP Government’s one year in office, Yeddyurappa refused to be drawn into any discussion on the reported pressure being brought by the Reddy brothers from Bellary — G. Karunakara Reddy and G. Janardhan Reddy — to drop certain Ministers.

Yeddyurappa dismissed such reports as mere rumours and said he would not pay any heed to them. “I will focus only on development works,” he said.

He described reports of the demand for dropping a few Ministers as a media creation. “I will not fault the media for it as some of them are prone to write and create such news, which again is based on what is fed to them,” Yeddyurappa said.

The Chief Minister also brushed aside reports of growing dismay among party leaders and workers in Mysore who were seeking the replacement of district in-charge Minister Shobha Karandlaje with Minister for Transport R. Ashok.

The latter, who was present at the spot, was visibly embarrassed by the suggestion and clarified that he was comfortably placed in Bangalore and would not leave the city.

Meeting with MPs

Yeddyurappa said he had held a meeting with all MPs from the State during his recent visit to Delhi to discuss the need to put the State on the fast track of development with the focus being on infrastructure, including railways. “In a significant development, MPs cutting across party lines have decided to sink their political differences and work for the comprehensive development of Karnataka. I met senior Cabinet Ministers including S.M. Krishna and Mallikarjun Kharge, and we have decided to meet once in three months in either Delhi or Bangalore to review the progress of development schemes,” he said.