Nafees loses Medical Education, gets S&T

By A. Jayaram

BANGALORE, AUG. 17. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, today carried out a minor reshuffle of portfolios by withdrawing the high profile portfolio of Medical Education from Ms. Nafees Fazal and entrusting the same to the Minister of State for Higher Education, Dr. G. Parameshwar.

Ms. Nafees Fazal will now be the Minister of State for Science and Technology with independent charge. Hitherto, Dr. Parameshwar was also in charge of Science and Technology. Dr. Parameshwar will now hold the portfolio of Medical Education in addition to Higher Education and continue to hold independent charge.

The Governor, Ms. V. S. Rama Devi, reallocated the portfolios of the two ministers on the recommendation of the Chief Minister. A reshuffle of portfolios was on the cards after the resignation of the KPCC President, Mr. Allum Veerabhadrappa, from the Council of Ministers.

Though today's changes are minor in nature and pertain only to two ministers, they are not without significance. It is for the first time since October 1999 when he came to power, the Chief Minister has changed the portfolio of a minister.

So far, there were only minor changes as when the portfolio of Infrastructure Development was taken away from the Minister for Large and Medium Industries, Mr. R. V. Deshpande, and given to Mr. T. John, who resigned in January last as a junior minister. Another Minister of State, Mr. M. M. Nanaiah, had been given the important portfolio of Information Technology in addition to Excise.

Though, on a cursory look, the change in the portfolio of Ms. Nafees Fazal can be attributed to her walking out of a public function attended by the Chief Minister on Thursday, the first- ever Muslim woman to be appointed as a minister in Karnataka has had her quota of problems with her ministerial colleagues and party leaders.

A member of the Legislative Council, she had differences with the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. A. B. Maalakaraddi, as in the case of the directorship of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology. She is known to have faced problems from some of the Muslim ministers themselves. Part of her difficulties can be attributed to her modernist image and views which have not been taken kindly by the orthodox sections of her own community.

Including Ms. Fazal, there are five Muslim ministers and the other four are members of the Cabinet.

Dr. Parameshwar, who holds a doctorate in Agriculture from an Australian University, has been impressive as a minister. In the recent session of the State Assembly, even the Opposition members commended the way he replied to the discussion on the Universities Bill.

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