Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar appears to have entered a politically challenging phase, with his leadership being tested simultaneously on multiple fronts — the Cauvery water-sharing issue, the long-pending expansion of the State Cabinet, the proposed Bidadi township project and the government’s drive to clear encroachments on footpaths.
The Chief Minister has increasingly found himself on the defensive. His appeal to his Tamil Nadu counterpart, C. Joseph Vijay, to postpone his proposed visit to Bengaluru in the wake of the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) direction on the release of water reflected the political sensitivity surrounding the inter-State river dispute.
Many visits to Delhi
The delay in the Cabinet expansion has emerged as perhaps the major political challenge before Mr. Shivakumar. Despite repeated visits to New Delhi, he has so far been unable to secure the Congress high command’s approval to fill the 20 vacant ministerial berths. His return from the national capital without a finalised list of new Ministers has fuelled speculation that the State leadership enjoys limited autonomy in political appointments. Unlike his predecessor Siddaramaiah, who expanded his Cabinet to its full strength within days of assuming office, Mr. Shivakumar has had to wait for the party leadership’s clearance.
