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Yediyurappa’s Delhi trip for cabinet expansion nod delayed, Bihar is the cause
Yediyurappa has to perform a tough balancing act to accommodate a myriad group of aspirants into the state cabinet.
Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said that the much-delayed cabinet expansion in the state has been postponed further as the party high command was busy with ministry formation in Bihar. Admitting that he was scheduled to go to Delhi on Saturday to discuss cabinet expansion with the party’s Central leadership, Yediyurappa said, “I have been now told that they are busy with the Bihar government formation. I have been asked to come after that (exercise) is complete.”
Yediyurappa had promised to expand the cabinet after the by-polls were complete. With the BJP winning both seats, which went to by-polls, there is immense pressure from several aspirants to expand the cabinet. While Munirathna who won from RR Nagar has been promised a cabinet berth, former JD(S) Karnataka unit president AH Vishwanth, who crossed over to help topple the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition government and has been now nominated to the upper house had told HT that he was ‘confident that the CM will keep his promise (of including him in the cabinet).’
That’s not all, the ‘original’ BJP MLAs, upset with accommodation of Congress and JD(S) defectors in the cabinet, are demanding that they be included in the expansion. Several of them including Raju Gowda Naik, Murugesh Nirani, Umesh Katti and others have publicly declared that they should be given an opportunity.
A senior BJP minister told HT that “it isn’t clear whether it will be just an expansion or whether some would be dropped and others given an opportunity. It is finally up to the party high command as caste, region and other factors also need to be taken into consideration.”
At present there are seven vacancies in the cabinet including that of tourism minister CT Ravi who resigned last week after being elevated as a national general secretary. Karnataka cabinet can have a maximum of 34 members including the CM.
