Karnataka all-male cabinet row: Why CM Shivakumar isn’t able to induct a woman minister

Bengaluru: When DK Shivakumar faced his first legislature session as the chief minister of Karnataka on Thursday, there was no woman member in his 33-member cabinet. People aware of the development say different factions of the ruling Congress have been jostling to push their own candidate for the lone ministerial vacancy.

Shivakumar took over the charge of the state from his party colleague on 3 June, with 13 ministers taking oath alongside him. The cabinet expansion took place on 3 August, when 19 new ministers took oath out of 20 initially cleared. Gayatri Shanthegowda did not take oath. Later, it was said her inclusion in the list was a “typing error”.

Although the All India Congress Committee (AICC) was able to reach a consensus on portfolio allocations for the 19 newly inducted ministers, a decision has not yet been reached on which woman legislator will fill the lone remaining seat in Shivakumar cabinet.

“It will take its own time. Now that the (legislature) session is on, we will take a decision after this,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

The Monsoon Session of the state legislature will continue till 27 August. 

The leader added that appointing a woman Cabinet member without holding more deliberations will “create more problems”. Every leader, he said, is “naturally pushing for their own candidates”.

Another member, considered close to the chief minister, said there was “no urgency” in filling up the spot.

One of the reasons for the deadlock, it is learnt, is that Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and national Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge are each pushing for their own candidate to fill the lone vacant cabinet berth.

Meanwhile, Shivakumar’s two-month-old government has come under sharp criticism over the issue.

Nayana Motamma (46), a first-time Congress legislator and MLA from Mudigere in Chikmagaluru district, said the delay in appointing a woman minister is sending out the wrong message.

“Even though I am a legislator who can be considered as an aspirant, I believe that the issue is bigger than me. From a larger picture about women empowerment, reservation, I think it’s really unfortunate and I hope that they (high command) do something about this as soon as possible. Otherwise, this reflects very badly on the party and the message it is giving out,” she told ThePrint.

Data shows that women significantly backed the Congress in the 2023 assembly elections, and the Congress centered its flagship programmes around them—Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 per month for woman head of household), Gruha Shakthi (free power), Shakthi (free public bus rides for women), Anna Bhagya (free rice scheme), and Yuva Nidhi (financial assistance to job seekers). 

The Congress under Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have supported reservation for women in state and national assemblies, as well as policies to empower women.

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‘All-male cabinet’

Siddaramaiah has been pushing for the nomination of Basavaraj Neelappa Shivannanavar for the lone remaining berth in the Cabinet, according to people aware of the development. 

“We do not have any (woman) candidate. Our demand was to induct Shivannanavar,” said one person from the Siddaramaiah camp, requesting anonymity.

It is believed that earlier Siddaramaiah backed Shanthegowda, who, like himself and Shivakumar, comes from the Kuruba community.

 Congress leaders ThePrint spoke to said if some leaders have their way, it could remain an “all-male cabinet”.

Shivakumar backs former women & child development minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, while some other candidates have been trying to get the attention of the high-command, and the leaders of the respective warring factions.

Apart from facing criticism over no woman member in the Cabinet, the Shivakumar government is also battling public expression of dissent by several leaders, including M. Krishnappa, Tanveer Sait, H.C.Mahadevappa, M.C.Sudhakar, Narayanswamy and several others.

A.S. Ponnanna, the first-time MLA from Virajpet in Kodagu, was nominated as deputy speaker of the assembly, but was later appointed the political secretary to the chief minister. He has served as legal advisor to Siddaramaiah.

 Certain communities have also aired their angst over the Cabinet expansion.

Brahmins, for instance, are protesting their exclusion for the first time in the state’s history. Several other smaller communities remain conspicuously absent when it comes to political representation.

When Siddaramaiah was the chief minister, he doled out nearly 150 cabinet ranks to Congress legislators and others to placate dissenting voices. Shivakumar appears to be following suit.

Veteran Congress leader R.V.Deshpande has been appointed the chairman of the reforms committee. Deshpande has been accorded a cabinet rank, as has Ponnanna.  

‘Shrinking space for women in cabinet’

The situation is no different in other political parties and in states. 

According to an analysis by Business Standard, only one in 10 ministers across Indian states is a woman, reflecting the stark reality of political parties whose platforms–elections and policy–are centred around women empowerment. Out of 608 ministers in  28 states and three Union Territories, only 30 are women.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 72-member council of ministers, only two of 

28 cabinet ministers are women: Nirmala Sitharaman and Annapurna Devi. 

Out of the 39 ministers who hold minister of state rank, only five are women.

In most states, women are often allocated the Women and Child Development portfolio, with notable exceptions like Vangalapudi Anitha who holds Andhra Pradesh’s home department while S. Keerthana and Santana Chakma, who hold the industries portfolio in Tamil Nadu and Tripura respectively. Gupta and Kumari head the finance departments of their respective states.

According to Business Standard,  Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Puducherry and Karnataka have no women representation in the Cabinet.

Even within the Congress in Karnataka, most of the front-runners—Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Nayana Motamma, Kaneez Fathima from Kalaburagi, and Annapurana Tukaram—are dynasts, ThePrint reported earlier.

 The party has four women legislators—Umashree, Aarthi Krishna, Bilkis Banu and Gayatri Shanthegowda–in the upper house of the state legislature.

Umashree, who was nominated as the deputy chairperson of the legislative council, has made it clear that she prefers a Cabinet role instead.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)

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