BENGALURU: An unspoken rivalry between transport minister Ramalinga Reddy and Bengaluru development minister K.J. George could delay the resolution of several civic problems, including cleansing the city of heaps of garbage.
Their differences surfaced soon after the recent reshuffle of the ministry with Mr George moving from home to a new portfolio of Bengaluru city development and in-charge of Bengaluru, a position held earlier by Mr Ramalinga Reddy.
Sources in the party told Deccan Chronicle that when the process of reshuffle commenced, Mr Reddy reportedly met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and requested to appoint Mr George as minister for Bengaluru development but allow himself to carry on as minister in-charge of the city.
He even went to the extent of saying that he was ready to work with Mr George in his capacity as district in-charge minister and help fix problems plaguing Bengaluru city.
The sources said Dr Parameshwar, after being refused the post of deputy chief minister, put forth his demand for two portfolios-home and Bengaluru development.
Mr Siddaramaiah, however, convinced Dr Parameshwar to settle for home portfolio because Mr George should get an important portfolio in view of his seniority in the party as well as his proximity to the high command.
In a bid to strike a balance between Dr Parameshwar and Mr George, the Chief Minister took away Bengaluru city in-charge from Mr Reddy and gave it to Mr George.
The upshot: a humiliated Mr Reddy reportedly kept away from all meetings convened to discuss the garbage crisis or potholed roads in the city, and left it to Mr George to face the situation single-handed.
“Since he opted for Bengaluru development minister’s post, he should be ready to face the music,” sources added.
Sources close to a sulking transport minister said “Mr Reddy, as long as he was in-charge minister, held several meetings with BBMP officials to fix crumbling infrastructure and also inspected different wards almost every day to address problems of citizens. Despite doing all these things to maintain the government's image, what made Mr Siddaramaiah to take away the in-charge minister’s post from him?”
In fact, Mr Reddy had bailed out the government from an awkward situation when villagers of surroundings areas refused to allow dumping of garbage in their vicinity.
Mr Reddy, at the behest of Mr Siddaramaiah, met villagers and sought their co-operation for dumping garbage till alternative arrangements were made. So Mr Reddy felt let down by the Chief Minister who gave away two important posts to Mr George.
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