MLAs miffed, Siddaramaiah offers board posts as a peace offering

Of 30 disgruntled legislators who complained to Congress leadership about having no say in development of their constituencies, eight accommodated; more appointments expected

The Board was constituted in 2013 to oversee development in nearly 42 Assembly constituencies in the six districts of the Kalyana Karnataka region (alternatively called Hyderabad Karnataka) and was earlier headed by a minister in charge of one of the districts. (File)

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In the first sign of concrete measures taken by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to address disgruntlement among Congress MLAs over a lack of their role in development work in their constituencies, the state government has accommodated several of these legislators in the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board.

The government issued the orders on Thursday evening for the Development Board to be set up with Jewargi MLA Ajay Singh as the chairman and seven other MLAs as members. The MLAs accommodated in the Board are all senior leaders who lost out on ministerial posts and were among a group of 30 state legislators who recently wrote to the CM expressing concern at not being assigned sufficient responsibilities and funds for development projects in their constituencies.

The appointments to the Board and other major regional, caste, and other development boards are often used by incumbent governments to settle uneasiness among MLAs who lose out on ministerial posts. There are more than 70 different boards and corporations in Karnataka and more appointments are expected over the next few weeks as Siddaramaiah attempts to maintain the equilibrium in the government, which has 135 MLAs in a 224-member House.

With the 34-member state Cabinet filled to capacity, appointments to boards and corporations are a means to check unhappiness in the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is aiming to win 20 of Karnataka’s 28 parliamentary seats.

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Apart from Ajay Singh, the other legislators who have found space in the Kalyana Karnataka board are Aland MLA B R Patil and Yelburga MLA Basavaraj, both of whom were prominent signatories of the letter to the CM a few weeks ago. The others are Raja Venkatappa Naik of Yadgir, Hampanagouda Badarli of Sindhanur, Raghavendra Hitnal of Koppal, E Tukaram of Sandur, and H R Gaviappa of Vijayanagar. Many of them are considered to be Siddaramaiah loyalists.

The Development Board also has Rajya Sabha MP Nasir Hussain and MLCs Aravind Arala Yalakanur and Tipanappa Kamakanur. Members of the Board who are not MLAs are mostly believed to be loyalists of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Congress government set up the Development Board — then known as the Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board — in 2013 after the region was granted a special development status during the tenure of the party-led United Progressive Alliance. It was renamed in 2019. The board has jurisdiction over 42 Assembly seats covering the districts of Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur, and Yadgir. The appointments are for a one-year rotation period. The Board has oversight over development funds allocated in the Budget.

The heads of the state departments of agriculture, higher education, animal husbandry, health and family welfare, social welfare, public instruction, forest, and chief engineers are also de facto members of the Board.

Lack of resources

Barely 75 days after coming to power, the Karnataka Congress was roiled by disgruntlement among senior MLAs who did not find berths in the Cabinet. As a result, in recent weeks letters and meetings of party MLAs have been dominated by complaints of lack of funds and accusations of inaccessibility of some Cabinet ministers.