A week after he was made the national general secretary of the BJP, Karnataka Minister CT Ravi resigned from his position of the Tourism and Culture Minister in BS Yediyurappa cabinet. Sources said that while Ravi submitted his resignation to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, it is yet to be formally accepted. He will fly to the national capital on Monday to meet the top brass of the party.
The resignation comes in expected lines after Ravi had hinted that he might not carry on with the tourism portfolio after getting the key post in the party’s organisation.
When he was at his home district headquarters town of Chikkamagaluru last Thursday, CT Ravi has said that he had kept his resignation letter ready for submission. Ravi's resignation also comes in the midst of reports that the Chief Minister may go in for a Cabinet reshuffle and expansion soon.
There are 28 ministers in Karnataka against the maximum permissible limit of 34. There are many ministerial aspirants, including those who had switched over to the ruling BJP from the Congress and the JD(S).
On September 26, Ravi was named one of the eight national general secretaries. Incidentally, along with Ravi, his party colleague from the state and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, too, was made the national president of the party’s youth wing.
It may be recalled that Ravi was initially disappointed with his portfolio following the formation of the BSY government in 2019. Ravi, who is the party’s MLA from Chikkamagaluru, was upset when he was given such a low key portfolio and had even decided to resign within an hour of his appointment.
Ravi had recently posted on Twitter one of the popular verses of "Mankuthimmana Kagga", written by famous Kannada litterateur DV Guddappa.
"Nothing stops when a person dies. The seasons continue to change. Time may grieve for some time. From the soil in which the dead are buried, rises the sprout of grass. Earth is pregnant again with new life. Nature is in a constant state of cultivation - Mankutimma," the Minister wrote.