Shivakumar comes to Hindasgeri's aid

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">hubli: district-in-charge minister a.m. hindasgeri can breathe easy, now that co-operation minister d.k. shivakumar is not listening to his detractors. "chief minister krishna was right in including hindasgeri into the cabinet, though he is an mlc," he told <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">the times of india </span>here on monday.it may be recalled that the cartel of four mlas __ comprising jabbar khan honnalli, shivanand ambadgatti, g.s. gatti and shivalli __ had raised the banner of revolt against hindasgeri. ``experience was the criterion while choosing hindasgeri, while the two other congress mlas are associate members and another is a first-time mla,'''' shivakumar said in defence of the beleaguered minister. he also had a word of consolation for the four mlas. ``their position in the party will be strengthened.'''' the faction has been raising a chorus against hindasgeri for some time now. during the recent hubli-dharwad municipal corporation elections where the minister''s men were sidelined, it was believed in political circles that the "inspiration" was shivakumar, a heavyweight in the cabinet. shivakumar''s shadow on the faction-ridden district congress was more visible then. the lobby to remove hindasgeri from the cabinet is on a low key now with his mentor and water resource minister h.k. patil taking more interest in local issues these days. shivakumar''s utterances on monday have come as a dampener on the embers of rebellion. the rebels'' argument was that those who have been directly elected by the people should be chosen ministers and not an ordinary mlc. they had also charged hindasgeri with ``non-performance''''. on monday, shivakumar was given a rousing reception in hubli by those who have been identified with the anti patil-hindasgeri group. though the kanakapura debacle forced some local congress leaders to keep themselves strategically away, mlas honnali and shivalli accompanied the minister to kundgol. prominent among those with the minister was prakash ullagaddimath. his proximity to shivakumar is said to be one of the main reasons behind him losing the dharwad rural congress president''s post, which is now history. shivakumar, who has taken the drubbing by former pm deve gowda in his stride, said: ``the defeat has thrown up a few lessons for the party. the most important is that we have identified the anti-congress votes, which will help us redraft our election strategy in future." asked to elaborate on his demand to rope in youths for various positions, he said: ``by involving more youth members in party affairs, we will be able to reach the masses. that does not mean the congress is not giving importance to the youth. my point is that we should give them more importance.'''' </div> </div>