By P.T. Bopanna
Virajpet MLA A.S. Ponnanna’s dream of being inducted into Cabinet has fizzled out after he was appointed as political secretary to Karnataka chief minister D.K. Shivakumar.
Ponnanna, a ministerial aspirant, had expressed his displeasure over not being inducted into the Cabinet which was expanded last week. He was made Congress party’s nominee for deputy speaker of Assembly, an ornamental post.
A disappointed Ponnanna pulled strings and succeeded in being appointed as political secretary with cabinet rank, a post normally dangled before those failing to make it to the ministry.
Having been identified with former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s faction in the Congress, chief minister Shivakumar is unlikely to delegate any important role to one of the brightest politicians to emerge in Karnataka’s political landscape.
Son of firebrand leader A.K. Subbaiah, Ponnanna, who was appointed additional advocate general by Siddaramaiah government, was successful in breaching the saffron fortress in Kodagu, proving that he is a man to watch in Karnataka politics.
Ponnanna, a Kodava (Coorg), though an outstanding politician, lacks caste power because he hails from a numerically small Kodava community. Besides, Kodagu is politically insignificant because it has only two MLAs.
People of Kodagu are disappointed with the Congress for neglecting Kodagu as the district has not had a minister in the past 14 years.
As the BJP has a committed cadre in Kodagu, the party is likely to make a come-back in Kodagu in the next Assembly elections, provided the saffron party fields the right candidate.