Jagadish Shettar & Laxman Savadi miss out on Karnataka cabinet berths this time

BENGALURU: Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, who jumped ship to join the Congress from BJP just before the recent assembly elections and helped tilt the Lingayat vote bank in favour of the grand old party, have notably missed out on cabinet berths.Shettar and Savadi deserted BJP after being denied tickets, with the saffron party opting for younger faces. Shettar is likely to be appointed the state planning committee vice-chairman.While Savadi secured a big victory in the Athani seat, Shettar suffered his first defeat in the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency -- a seat he represented six times in the past. The other turncoats who have been denied portfolios include KM Shivalinge Gowda, SR Srinivas, HD Thammaiah, and KS Kiran Kumar. Among the turncoats, Madhu Bangarappa is the only MLA who has been accommodated in Siddaramaiah's cabinet.Of the 24 legislators who took oath as ministers, six Lingayats have been accommodated in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, while Shettar and Savadi were ignored. There was some speculation in political circles that one of them may be inducted in the cabinet to send out a message to Lingayats.Political observers pointed out that the vote share of the Congress within the Lingayat community has increased by two to three per cent in these elections, though not necessarily because of Shettar and Savadi joining the party, but owing to various other factors as well."Congress should have offered a cabinet berth to one of them, keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. They missed an opportunity," said Vishwas Shetty, a political commentator.A senior minister, however, said the high command had summoned both Shettar and Savadi to Delhi and took them into confidence before announcing the names of ministers. "Both have been assured of a ministry in the next cabinet reshuffle," he added.Lingayats had abandoned the Congress after late chief minister Veerendra Patil's unceremonious ouster in 1990. Under the leadership of Patil, a Lingayat strongman, Congress had won 178 seats in the 224-member House in 1989, which is the party's biggest victory in the state till date. Ever since Patil's exit, the Lingayat vote bank drifted away from the Congress.