Cabinet expansion will be deferred again as Dec 22 is an 'inauspicious day', says a miffed Reddy

Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy doubted that the Cabinet expansion will be done on December 22, as announced by the Coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee while claiming that several such dates had been set in the past.

Accusing the party of adopting a  “pick-and-choose” policy, Reddy questioned the induction of three of its senior leader namely R V Deshpande, K J George and D K Shivakumar – all of who have been ministers in the past and sidelining other seniors leaders if it wanted to give newbies a chance in the Cabinet. 

“Either all seniors should get Cabinet posts, or nobody gets it,” Reddy told media persons here.

He further said that December 22, being a ‘shunya masa’ (considered to be inauspicious) the Cabinet expansion in all its likelihood will be deferred again and claimed that he sees no possibility for the Cabinet expansion before the Lok Sabha election.

Apart from Reddy, other ministerial aspirants within the party also are in no mood to believe that the Cabinet expansion will take place on December 22,  a day after the winter session of the state legislature ends, contrary to their demand of completing the exercise before the start of the session on December 10.

Meanwhile, Coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee chairperson Siddaramaiah has assured that the Cabinet expansion will take place on December 22. “Congress president Rahul Gandhi has given us an appointment on December 21. We will talk to him, the JD(S) will talk to its president H D Deve Gowda and the expansion will happen on December 22,” he said.