Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has said he will expand the Cabinet on February 6, Thursday morning at 10.30 a.m. He said 13 new Ministers would be inducted. This is the first time the Chief Minister has announced a date for the expansion, ending several weeks of speculation.

He said on Sunday that the formula for expansion was “10+3”, meaning 10 from among the party-hopper MLAs who recently won the byelection and three from among the old-timers. When asked who among those who won the bypoll would not be made a Minister, he refused to divulge names and asked to wait and watch.

Asked about the regional imbalance in the Cabinet if all those who have won bypolls were inducted into the Cabinet, the Chief Minister said: “It is because of the resignation of 17 MLAs that our government has come [to power] and I have become Chief Minister. We can’t see regional and caste imbalances now. Even if you were in my position, you would have done the same”.

Responding to recent statements by A.H. Vishwanath and MTB Nagaraj, two party-hoppers who lost bypolls, demanding they be made Ministers, Mr. Yediyurappa said as per Supreme Court judgment they could not be. “There are technical issues that they must understand,” he said.

Speaking of R. Shankar, who joined the BJP but did not contest the bypoll, now demanding he be made an MLC and a Minister as promised, the Chief Minister said: “We will make him an MLC and a Minister as promised. We will not go back on any of the promises made”.