State Does Not Need Deputy CM - Renukacharya
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Aug 30: Controversial excise minister M P Renukacharaya, who has switched sides from being an ardent supporter of Bellary Reddy brothers to being a staunch loyalist of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, has strongly supported the latter’s stout opposition to having a deputy chief minister in the state.
Renukacharaya was most vocal in supporting the chief minister in the recent past including criticising the Bellary Reddy brothers’ move to organise Bellary to Mysore padayatra to counter the Congress party’s Bangalore to Bellary padayatra and had publicly announced that he would not join the Janajagruti Samavesha convened by the Bellary mining lords at Thoranagal.
He managed to muster support of textiles and sports minister Goolihatti Shekar, sericulture minister Venkataramanappa, public libraries and mass education minister Shivanagouda Naik and Soraba MLA Gopalakrishna Belur and made a joint statement declaring that there was no need for having a deputy chief minister in the state.
It may be recalled that the transport minister R Ashok, who belongs to the politically dominant Vokkaliga community which enjoys considerable support in the Old Mysore region and is known to have been inching closer to the Bellary Reddy brothers in the recent past, had been lobbying for becoming the deputy chief minister and eventually emerge as an alternative power center in the cabinet.
''There is no necessity of deputy chief minister’s post in the state. Yeddyurappa is the undisputed leader for BJP in the state and there is no justification for having such a post. Nobody can challenge the leadership or even equal that of the chief minister,” Renukacharaya said.
The three ministers, who have supported Renukacharya are all independents and were made ministers for extending support to the BJP government when it marginally fell short of a clear majority in the state assembly after the 2008 assembly polls, and Renukacharya claimed that there was no discussion with the BJP’s central leaders and the state leaders about the creation of the deputy chief minister’s post.
They declared that they would strongly oppose any move to create a deputy chief minister’s post as it could be used to undermine Yeddyurappa’s leadership and send a wrong message to the people and party workers that the chief minister was unable to lead the party by himself.
''The party fought Assembly, Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections successfully under the leadership of Yeddyurappa. The question of creating the deputy chief minister’s post does not arise in the present context,’’ they said.
Renukacharya said that the creation of the deputy chief minister’s post was only a rumour and there was no substance in it.
Venkataramanappa also echoed the same view and said so far no discussion had taken place about the creation of the deputy chief minister’s post.
The chief minister had spiked media reports on Sunday August 29 in Gulbarga, regarding the creation of deputy chief minister’s post.
Yeddyurappa, who was the deputy CM in the H D Kumaraswamy government, said no one in his Cabinet approached him to reshuffle the ministry and to appoint a deputy.
However, he hinted about the Cabinet reshuffle after the two by-elections from Gulbarga and Kadur constituencies on September 13.