Bengaluru: Chief minister DK Shivakumar’s proposal to create a global investors and foreign affairs department has triggered unease within the Karnataka cabinet, with industries minister MB Patil and IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge raising concerns over a possible overlap with their departments.The department, first promised in the Congress manifesto ahead of the 2023 assembly elections, gathered momentum after Shivakumar assumed office last month. While the original idea was to create a dedicated platform for non-resident Kannadigas and Indians to maintain ties with Karnataka and facilitate investments, the proposal is understood to have evolved into a broader investment promotion mechanism.That, sources said, prompted objections from Patil and Kharge, who argued that attracting domestic and foreign investments already falls within the mandate of their departments. “The two ministers cited that the job was already being carried out by their departments and another separate department would only confuse investors who want to come to Karnataka. This pushed the CM on the backfoot and asked DCM G Parameshwara to head the cabinet sub-committee to discuss the concerns,” an official said.Congress sources said the objections were not directed at the foreign affairs or NRI welfare component of the proposal, but at the inclusion of the global investors mandate. “It could have been avoided, in the sense that the chief minister may have kept it low key by pushing only the NRI angle while not renaming it as global investors and foreign affairs department. But there was an intent to turn the department into foreign investments nodal agency. Now, the onus of diffusing the concerns of the other cabinet ministers falls on Parameshwara to convince his cabinet colleagues of the new department not threatening their jurisdictions,” a Congress legislator said.Defending the proposal, Congress NRI cell chairperson and NRI cell vice-chairperson Arathi Krishna said the department was primarily intended to address the welfare needs of Karnataka’s overseas community rather than function as an investment promotion agency. “There is a massive population of non-residential Kannadigas who work in blue collar jobs and require welfare measures. From their social security after returning home to getting many of the unfortunate accident and incident driven dead bodies, NRI departments are vital for them across most states. Karnataka needs such a forum as it will become a nodal agency to facilitate and ensure welfare measures are provided to the needy,” Krishna said.She added that a full-fledged department would receive a substantially larger budget than the existing NRI cell and would serve as a single-window facilitator for NRIs and non-resident Kannadigas seeking to invest in Karnataka. Krishna also cited Kerala and Tamil Nadu as examples of states that have dedicated departments to coordinate with their overseas diaspora.Sources said the cabinet sub-committee headed by Parameshwara is expected to meet later this week to address the concerns and finalise the framework for the proposed department. If you’d like, I can also make this read even more like a front-page TOI political exclusive with a sharper intro and stronger narrative flow.
