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Minister quits in protest at Karnataka expansion

Karnataka Minister of State for Horticulture D T Jayakumar resigned after he was not elevated to cabinet rank when the state ministry was expanded on Saturday.

In his resignation letter, he said Chief Minister J H Patel may have had political compulsions in not according him cabinet rank, but he was quitting the ministry as "injustice" had been done to backward class people. Jayakumar later told UNI that Patel had assured him he would consider him for cabinet rank.

Earlier, the largest-ever ministry in Karnataka was expanded today with the induction of four more ministers, taking its strength to 51.

Amarnath Shetty, D Narayan Das, D Nagarajaiah and Aswath Reddy, all ministers of state, were sworn in at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan. Minister of State for Kannada and Cculture Leeladevi R Prasad was elevated to cabinet rank.

Besides Chief Minister Patel there are 25 cabinet minsters and 25 ministers of state.

Patel said he had effected the expansion following political compulsions and there was no logic behind it. The chief minister said the expansion was final and all appointments including that of chairmen of various state boards and corporations were over now. He said he had kept up his word by not dropping any minister.

The chief minister said the crisis in the Janata Dal had blown over even before the expansion. He did not agree with a suggestion that there might be fresh dissidence from now on. ''Minor differences bound to occur and we will set them right,'' he added.

Patel said he would write to the governor on the allocation of portfolios to the new ministers. There might be minor changes in some portfolios, he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Patel added, would present the state budget, indicating that his finance portfolio would not be changed.

The chief minister said he had consulted senior JD leaders, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, before expanding his ministry.

He defended the jumbo size of the ministry thus: ''When UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh could do it, why not I?'' However, he added that he personally felt that the ministry's size was big.

This is the fifth expansion of the ministry -- the fourth within 10 months -- effected by Patel who became chief minister in May 1996.

UNI

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