BS Yediyurappa appoints districts in-charge ministers, keeps Bengaluru with him

BENGALURU: Twenty-five days after expanding his ministry, chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday appointed district ministers while retaining the much-sought after Bengaluru Urban.
With deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan and revenue minister R Ashoka competing to manage Bengaluru Urban, Yediyurappa decided to keep it to avoid an escalation of their battle.Ashoka has been upset at Narayan’s elevation as deputy chief minister and being projected as the future face of Vokkaligas in BJP, something which Ashoka has been strongly projecting all these years. Ashoka has been trying to be Bengaluru in-charge minister as losing this to Narayan would have been another political blow.
Encompassing 27 assembly constituencies and the state’s richest civic body, Bengaluru district offers its in-charge minister a big boost. Narayan has been made in-charge of Ramanagara and Chikkaballapura, and Ashoka has been given Bengaluru Rural and Mandya.
Another deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi has been kept outside his home district Belagavi due to opposition from a few BJP MLAs, particularly Hukkeri MLA Umesh Katti. Savadi has been made Ballari and Koppal district minister while industries minister Jagadish Shettar will be in-charge of Belagavi in addition to home district Dharwad.
Health minister B Sriramulu has been denied charge of his home district Ballari and will handle Chitradurga and Raichur. Another senior minister KS Eshwarappa has been made Shivamogga in-charge with additional charge of Davanagere.
With only 18 ministers, including Yediyurappa, in the cabinet, 12 are in charge of two districts each while Sureshkumar, CT Ravi, Shashikala Jolle, Kota Srinivas Poojary and H Nagesh have been given one district each.