The feud between Karnataka's Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar and Health Minister B Sriramulu has reached a stalemate with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appointing Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar as the government's official spokesperson for coronavirus-related matters in the state.

The first COVID-19 case was reported in Karnataka on March 9. Since then, B Sriramulu and Dr K Sudhakar have indulged in petty feuds in a game of one-upmanship. 'Who will be lauded for the exceptional work done by Karnataka in the wake of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic?’ and ‘who is the most visible face gaining public approval?’ — this is what the two Ministers are fighting over, sources said.

With both Sudhakar and Sriramulu shooting out updates and figures related to COVID-19 that did not correspond with the Health Department, the feud reached its peak in late March. The bickering did not stop and Dr K Sudhakar, who is an MBBS graduate, felt he was better qualified to be the one in charge due to his medical background.

With the feud reaching Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's doorstep, the septuagenarian leader, with decades of experience airing out petty political fights, decided that neither of the feuding ministers would be in charge of handling media briefings. Chief Minister Yediyurappa decided that Suresh Kumar, whose team is known for its coordination and timely updates, would handle the briefings. This decision, sources say, was made as there were severe discrepancies in the information being given out by Sriramulu and Sudhakar.

Petty feuds during a pandemic

The feud between the ministers has been evident since day one.

On March 24, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala signed off on a notification that Sriramulu would be given the Health portfolio but without COVID-19. COVID-19 and related matters would be handed over to Dr K Sudhakar. Soon after this notification was signed, an angry Sriramulu is believed to have met the Chief Minister, and expressed his displeasure over being sidelined without notice. Sudhakar, who was also called in for the meeting, in which Yediyurappa attempted to broker peace, is said to have informed the Chief Minister that he is better equipped to handle the pandemic than Sriramulu.

In order to stop the bickering, Yediyurappa put Sudhakar in-charge of COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, while Sriramulu was put in charge of the rest of the state.

Just a day after this meeting, on March 25, Sriramulu tweeted that a woman from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura had died of COVID-19. However, Sudhakar maintained that the woman's test results were yet to arrive. On March 26, Sudhakar tweeted that the woman had died due to COVID-19.

On April 1, Sriramulu tweeted that 342 people from Karnataka had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting. Just hours later, the Health Department said that 1,500 people had attended the meeting. With the jarring difference in information, the issue once again reached Chief Minister Yediyurappa. Since both Sudhakar and Sriramulu showed no signs of making peace, and in order to take the burden of their feud off the shoulders of the Health Department, he put Education Minister Suresh Kumar in-charge of handling the information outflow, sources close to Yediyurappa said.

Dr Sudhakar denies that a fight exists

With this decision, Dr Sudhakar on Saturday issued an official statement that there was no feud between him and Sriramulu. He went on to even state that Sriramulu is like a brother to him.

“There are no differences between me and Health Minister B Sriramulu. We are working together to fight against coronavirus and we are constantly in touch with each other to find solutions to this problem. Sriramulu and I are striving towards the development of the people of Karnataka like brothers,” he tweeted.