Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa expanded his Cabinet on Wednesday inducting seven more ministers.
The expansion has opened the pandora’s box with many loyal senior party MLAs expressing displeasure over their non-inclusion.
Today Umesh Katti, Arvind Limbavali, Murugesh Nirani, MTB Nagaraju, R Shankar, CP Yogeeshwar and S Angara were administered oath by the Governor Vajubhai Vala in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
As the Cabinet list was out, many disgruntled voices were being aired openly by senior BJP MLAs. Ministerial aspirants, who did not make it to the list are: GH Thippareddy, Sunil Kumar, SA Ramadas, MP Renukacharya, AH Vishwanath and Aravind Bellad.
Immediately after the list was out, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, MLA from Vijayapura, accused Yediyurappa and said, “Chief Minister is making appointments under blackmail, without considering seniority or honesty.” He further alleged that the Chief Minister and his family have hijacked the BJP in Karnataka.
Requesting the party and Prime Minister to end dynastic politics from Yediyurappa’s family in Karnataka, Yatnal said, “Chief Minister is making those as Ministers who are blackmailing him. Three people — one political secretary and two Ministers have been blackmailing Yediyurappa for three months. One who will become minister today, was also involved in payment of money to Vijayendra (CM’s son).”
Another ministerial aspirant and MLC AH Vishwanth from Mysuru, who was among MLAs from the Congress-JDS coalition to resign in 2019 and switched over to BJP, hit out at Yediyurappa for not keeping his promise.
With Arvind Limbavali’s inclusion, Bengaluru city will have eight ministers in the Cabinet. Notable exclusion included Munirathna, a defector who recently won the bypolls. It is said a case against Munirathna, alleging election fraud pending in Supreme Court, turned an impediment for him to become minister.
Despite rumblings in the party over the cabinet expansion, a senior party leader said, “At the moment, Yediyurappa is safe for at least one year and is expected to continue as Chief Minister.”