Rift in Karnataka BJP on Cabinet shake-up

Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit chief K S Eshwarappa are taking divergent stands on the Cabinet reshuffle.

To iron out the differences, BJP leaders continued their discussion for a second day Sunday on who to include and who to drop from the party's first ministry in the state which assumed office in May 2008.

Eshwarappa favours a major shake-up by dropping three to four ministers while Yeddyurappa is for filling up the three vacancies in his ministry.

"Three or four ministers may be dropped," Eshwarappa told reporters late Saturday after a meeting of the party's core committee, comprising top BJP leaders and functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, Yeddyurappa said there was no proposal to drop anybody.

Karnataka can have a 34-member ministry, inclusive of the chief minister. There are three vacancies following the resignation of three ministers.

Ramachandra Gowda quit as medical education minister over the recruitment scam, religious endowment minister S N Krishnaiah Shetty left due to the land scandal and Food and Civil Supplies Minister H Halappa resigned over rape charges.

The absence of party general secretary and South Bangalore Lok Sabha member H N Ananth Kumar from Saturday's meeting led to speculation that differences have cropped between him and the chief minister over the probables. A party spokesperson said Ananth Kumar did not attend as he was ill.

Both Eshwarappa and Yeddyurappa have said they will be able to finalise the decision Sunday evening and forward it to the party central leadership for approval.

Supporters of legislators aspiring for ministerial berths and ministers who fear they may be dropped have mounted pressure on Yeddyurappa and state party leaders in various forms.

A delegation of the mayor, deputy mayor and several corporators of Davangere city corporation trooped into Yeddyurappa's residence Saturday when the core meeting was on to demand that Agriculture Minister S A Ravindranath, who hails from Davangere, should not be dropped.

The chief minister assured them he had no proposal to drop Ravindranath who had worked hard to build the party in Davangere in central Karnataka, a region about 260 km from Bangalore.

Supporters of C T Ravi, legislator from coffee-plantation district of Chikmagalur, held 'poojas' in some temples in the district, hoping for a Cabinet berth.