BD NarayankarBengaluru, Aug. 3 -- The oath was brief. The applause was loud. The smiles were carefully rehearsed. But by the time the last of the 19 newly inducted ministers took the oath of office on Monday, it had become evident that Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had ended one political battle only to find himself confronting several others.
The season of lobbying is over. The season of managing expectations has only begun.
For weeks, Congress legislators travelled between Bengaluru and New Delhi, invoking caste equations, regional claims and political loyalty in pursuit of a cabinet berth. The swearing-in was expected to bring closure to that exercise. Instead, it shifted the contest from who entered the Cabinet to how the Congress will...