Siddaramaiah must take bold steps, drop inefficient ministers: B Janardhan Poojary
Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister B. Janardhan Poojary's outburst against 'tainted' and 'non-performing' ministers has come as a warning bell for the three-year-old Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Mr Poojary's caustic remarks have come at a time when a majority of party legislators have been demanding the ouster of inactive ministers to save the government before it is too late. Citing one or the other reason, the chief minister has been postponing the cabinet reshuffle, much to the displeasure of party legislators, who are waiting patiently for their turn to seek a berth in the Cabinet.
After the induction of three ministers, including KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar, in a mini-Cabinet expansion around three months ago, Mr Siddaramaiah had promised his legislators that a bigger Cabinet reshuffle would be carried out in January, but now it is learnt that it might happen only after the budget session of the state legislature. The CM has cited council polls, ZP/TP polls and preparations for the 2016-17 budget as reasons for putting off the reshuffle.
Defending his comments, Mr Poojary told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday that time has come for Mr Siddaramaiah to show courage and drop the 'non-performing' ministers, if the party wishes to come back to power in the 2018 Assembly polls. “Unfortunately, several ministers have no respect for party workers, who are the backbone of the party. If the Congress came to power in the state in 2013, it was solely because of blood and sweat of lakhs of party workers who are in direct contact with voters. Any party that neglects party workers becomes weak and this applies to our party too. This government has been giving free rice to the poor, milk and mid-day meals to schoolchildren as part of ‘Rajya Dharma’. The CM has to take the bold step and throw away all 'inefficient' ministers in the interest of the party. Mr Siddaramaiah will not face any problems if such an action is taken. Even AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi care a lot for party workers,” he said.
Mr Poojary said he did not have to disclose the names of 'incompetent' ministers as Mr Siddaramaiah knew well his Cabinet colleagues whose performance had been below average.
