Bengaluru: A tense Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa looked a bit relaxed after his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday evening.
Emerging out of the meeting at Parliament House, Yediyurappa announced that the BJP high command has given him permission to expand his six-month old Cabinet. He said he would induct new ministers to take the Cabinet strength to the sanctioned number of 34, including the chief minister.
"My party high command has more or less agreed to my list. I will be expanding the Cabinet in the next three days. I may have to console a few," he said before returning to Bengaluru.
Yediyurappa has been under immense pressure, by former MLAs of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) who had crossed over to the BJP to make him chief minister last July, to expand his Cabinet. Of the 17 defectors, only 13 were fielded in the December by-polls. And 11 of them won, making his job difficult. Two seats are still vacant because of election petitions pending before courts.
According to these MLAs, Yediyurappa had promised to make all of them ministers, with the post of deputy chief minister going to their leader Ramesh Jharkiholi. These lawmakers were putting enormous pressure on Yediyurappa by openly telling him their "sacrifice" had made him the chief minister once again.
But the party high command had been dragging its feet, not allowing Yediyurappa to induct these new entrants at the cost of party loyalists.
Many senior MLAs who have not been made ministers to make way for these MLAs were also after Yediyurappa, demanding their loyalty be rewarded.
According to his close circles, Yediyurappa is likely to induct nine new entrants and three to four old-timers. He may even drop two or three ministers.
After his announcement in New Delhi, hectic political activities have already begun back at the BJP camp in Bengaluru to ensure their interests are protected.
The senior ministers are unwilling to vacate their seats or give up lucrative portfolios to accommodate the new faces. But the new entrants to the party are eyeing the same meaty portfolios. This has also added to the chief minister's woes and they are likely to resist his moves once he is back in Bengaluru.
The Yediyurappa camp claims he will manage all of them as the high command has already given him the go-ahead after making him wait for almost two months.
In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, only 34 can become ministers, including the chief minister. The BSY government currently has just 18 ministers, with many holding more than one bigger portfolio.
One has to wait and see whether the Cabinet expansion will lead to more political instability or consolidate BSY's position.
Comments
0 comment