Three weeks after taking charge as Chief Minister of Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa will finally expand his Ministry on Tuesday morning.
The Cabinet expansion will take place at 10.30 a.m at the Raj Bhavan with the Governor Vajubhai Vala administering the oath of office.
A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that 12 to 18 ministers will be inducted into the Cabinet. The names of the ministers will be revealed either on Monday night or during the swearing in ceremony, the party leader told BusinessLine.
The BJP has a tough task balancing the caste equation. The party has 39 Lingayat MLAs — a community to which the Chief Minister also belongs and forms the bulk of the Party’s support base. The Lingayats are followed by the Vokkaligas and the party has to give space to MLAs from the Dalit community, Scheduled Tribes, Brahmins and to Backward Communities as well.
One-man government
Sources inside the party said Yediyurappa itself was not aware of the number of candidates to be accommodated into the Ministry. Yediyurappa, after taking oath as Chief Minister on July 26, was running a single-man government, a tough task, especially when the State was facing unprecedented floods in majority of the districts.
After pursuing the matter of Cabinet expansion with party’s central leadership, the Chief Minister got the go-ahead after holding discussions with BJP national President Amit Shah on August 17.
It is learnt Shah had a list of legislators to be given ministerial berths. The Opposition came down hard on Yeddiyurappa and alleged that flood relief works are hampered in the absence of a full-fledged Cabinet.
Though Yediyurappa had visited Delhi earlier in the hope of getting approval for Cabinet expansion, he had to return empty-handed as the flood situation had aggravated even as central BJP leaders were busy following the death of veteran leader Sushma Swaraj.
The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) had been flaying the BJP for the inordinate delay in Cabinet expansion and accused Yediyurappa of running a one-man government.
Siddaramaiah slammed Yediyurappa saying that the dedication he had shown to topple the coalition government of JD(S)-Congress was missing when it came to forming the government.