Bengaluru (Karnataka): After failing to convince his two warring ministers - Health Minister Sriramulu and Medical Education Minister Sudhakar, over managing COVID-19 related issues and sharing information with the media, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has seemingly resolved the matter by handing over the responsibility to another minister.
The Chief Minister has now deputed Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar with the task of sharing COVID-19 related details to the media and hold daily briefings.
During early March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was escalating, Health minister B Sriramulu was busy in his daughter's wedding preparations. It was then that as per the directions of the CM Yediyurappa, medical education minister K Sudhakar started to work on containing the spread of the virus by forming a team of officers.
He started holding daily meetings with officers, coordinating with the central officers, and holding daily press briefings. As the budget session of the state legislature was in progress, Sudhakar was also answering questions related to Coronavirus on the floor of the house. He also started visiting hospitals and reviewing preparedness.
With Sudhakar taking command over the COVID-19 situation, the general feeling was as if the health minister was missing in action, which came as a shock to Sriramulu. It was then that the 'cold war' started. To prove his involvement in the COVID-19 situation, Sriramulu aggressively started using his social media, sharing updates through his Twitter handle even before Sudhakar.
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As an act being viewed as 'tit for tat', Sudhakar too joined in, sharing details through his social media accounts. This gave a sense of an ugly competition between the colleagues.
This competition led to a public perception that there existed no coordination between the two ministers. Sriramulu then reportedly approached the Chief Minister, allegedly lodging a complaint that Sudhakar was moving forward without keeping him informed. He also complained that Sudhakar was intervening in the functioning of the health department, visiting hospitals run by the health department.
Sriramulu was reportedly upset over the fact that being a new minister, Sudhakar was overtaking senior ministers like him. He told the Chief Minister that only he would release the health bulletin and address the media. Sudhakar, who was addressing the media on the COVID-19 situation from day one, then stayed away from the press meet, clearly indicating that all was not well between the two ministers.
In order to resolve the issue, Yediyurappa held a meeting with both of them and announced that both the ministers will address the press together.
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On March 18, the Chief Minister formed a Coronavirus task force headed by health minister Sriramulu. Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, and medical education minister K Sudhakar were nominated as members of the task force. This task force was given the powers to take decisions on the fight against COVID-19. However, things fell out once again, after a few days, Sudhakar started to address the media alone. Sriramulu then turned to his old trick of leaking information much before the media briefing by Sudhakar.
On March 24, Yediyurappa withdrew all COVID-19 related responsibilities from Sriramulu and handed them over to Sudhakar. Sriramulu would continue to remain the head of the COVID-19 task force and would visit districts and review preparedness. Sudhakar was to assume command in Bengaluru, holding meetings of officials and addressing media.
However, this did not bring the competition to an end. Both the ministers would simultaneously tweet information, resulting in confusion. Both the ministers received criticism for this.
Keeping all these developments in mind, the Chief Minister has now asked primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar to address media and share details related to the COVID-19. He announced the decision in a meeting with his cabinet colleagues and in the presence of Sudhakar and Sriramulu.
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