BSY to meet BJP central leadership to finalise Cabinet expansion

Bengaluru: A day after his government retained the majority in the Assembly by sweeping the bypolls, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday said he will soon hold discussions with the BJP central leadership on Cabinet expansion.

“In another three to four days I will go to Delhi to meet Amit Shah (BJP National President) and Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), when they decide we will do it (Cabinet expansion),” Yediyurappa said here.

“As I had given assurance that- those who had resigned and came out of (Congress and JD(S)) and have won the bypolls– making them Ministers is our responsibility, I have accepted it and will execute it hundred per cent,” he told reporters.

The ruling BJP on Monday swept the by-elections winning 12 of the total 15 seats, helping the four-month-old Yediyurappa government to retain majority in the Assembly.

Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for Yediyurappa, as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators in his ministry, as promised by him and also make place for old guards, who have been upset over being “neglected” in the first round of the induction exercise.

He also has the task of maintaining adequate representation various castes and regions in his Cabinet.

Including the Chief Minister, currently there are 18 ministers in the cabinet, whose sanctioned strength is 34.

Responding to the fate of disqualified legislators who had contested the bypolls on the BJP ticket and lost — A H Vishwanath (Hunasuru) and MTB Nagaraj (Hosakote)–, Yediyurappa said, “I don’t want to talk about them, I will talk to them personally.”

Recently there was some speculation within the BJP circles that all disqualified legislators who contested the bypolls on the party ticket will be made Ministers, irrespective of whether they win or not, and MLC option was being considered to make them ministers.

However, some senior party leaders are said to be opposed to this idea.

Yediyurappa also declined to comment about the resignation of Siddaramaiah as Congress Legislature Party leader.

Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after the party’s poor show, winning only two seats, as against the 12 it had held of the 15 which went to the bypolls on December 5.