Bengaluru, August 4, 2021 (www.justkannada.in): Basavaraj Bommai’s cabinet is considered as special because of absence of the posts of Deputy Chief Ministers’ after 22 years!
Yes. The State saw three Chief Ministers in between 1989-94 under the Congress party rule after the downfall of then Chief Minister Veerendra Patil. S.M. Krishna was made the Deputy Chief Minister in Veerappa Moily’s government.
Following this Janata Dal came to power and J.H. Patel became the Chief Minister. As H.D. Devegowda became the Prime Minister, J.H. Patel was made the Chief Minister and Siddaramaiah was the Deputy Chief Minister. Thus, the post of Deputy Chief Ministers existed in almost all the governments in the State.
There were no Deputy Chief Ministers only during the period of S.M. Krishna’s government between the years 1999-2004.
Siddaramaiah was the DCM again during Dharam Singh’s rule under the coalition government from the year 2004-2007. B.S. Yediyurappa was the DCM during the JDS-BJP coalition.
This time no DCM post has been declared may be because of the tough competition in the party by four to five people. There were three DCM’s in the B.S. Yediyurappa’s government, which earned wide criticism. May be because of this the BJP high command has refused DCMs post this time.
Constitutionally DCM post doesn’t exist. Whereas it is created only for political gain and nothing else.
Heads of several maths had demanded to provide DCM post for B. Sriramulu at any cost. However, it appears that the BJP high command has not budged to the pressure.
– M. Siddaraju, Senior Journalist, Former President, Karnataka Media Academy
