Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. (File)AFTER FORMING a one-man government headed by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on July 26, the BJP will carry out its first cabinet expansion in Karnataka on Tuesday by inducting 10-15 ministers, while balancing caste and regional equations.
With the BJP central leadership — party president Amit Shah, working president J P Nadda and organising secretary B L Santhosh — vetting all candidates who are going to be made ministers before obtaining final approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, many of Yediyurappa’s favorites may not be inducted, according to party sources.
“Caste and regional balance will be a key focus, but there will also be an emphasis on bringing in new people who have not been in the cabinet in the past,’’ said a BJP source. The party leadership has issued a clear directive that everyone must fall in line if they want to remain in power, sources said.
“The cabinet expansion will take place at 10:30 am tomorrow. I have written to the Governor in this regard. I have asked the chief secretary to make all arrangements,” Yediyurappa said. “Around 13 to 14 people are likely to be inducted in the first phase, there may be plus or minus one or two; we have now recommended 13 to 14,” he said.
While the names of a few former senior ministers who have travelled with Yediyurappa over the past few days to meet the party high command are doing the rounds, BJP leaders said there is no guarantee that the central leadership will stick by previous choices.
Among those being said to be in the reckoning are: Jagadish Shettar, Basavaraj Bommai, J C Madhuswamy (all members of the dominant Lingayat community like Yediyurappa), R Ashoka (Vokkaliga), Govind Karjol and Arvind Limbavallai (Scheduled Caste), Srinivas Poojary (backward caste from coastal Karnataka).
With the Lingayat community forming the bulwark of the BJP’s support in Karnataka, most of the ministers are likely to be from the community.
Yediyurappa is keen to leave at least 12 of the 34 cabinet positions available to him vacant in order to enable some of the nearly 15 rebels from the Opposition Congress and JD(S) to join the cabinet as a reward for helping the party topple the Congress-JD(S) coalition government last month. The rebels have been disqualified by their parties and are fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court.
With as many as 17 districts suffering major flood damage since August 5, the expansion of the cabinet is expected to allow Yediyurappa to focus more energy and capital in flood relief and rehabilitation work, which he has been shouldering alone over the past fortnight.
