BSY’s new ministers to take oath on Wednesday

BENGALURU/BELAGAVI: After months of speculation over cabinet expansion, new ministers in the BS Yediyurappa government will finally take oath at 4 pm on Wednesday at Raj Bhavan.But the day before the exercise, CM BS Yediyurappa and senior leaders were in a huddle to finalise the list of legislators to be inducted into the cabinet and they were discussing whether to drop some ministers to make way for new faces.

“I have personally informed them (about the oath-taking ceremony). Seven to eight new ministers will be inducted,” the chief minister said on Tuesday evening, even as he was holding meetings with several senior leaders, including Revenue Minister R Ashoka. Asked who are likely to be dropped, Yediyurappa said, “It’s under discussion and we are working on it.”

Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi said that Umesh Katti, Murugesh Nirani, C P Yogeshwar, R Shankar, N Munirathna and MTB Nagaraj will get cabinet berths.

Names of Limbavali and Angara do the rounds

Sullia MLA S Angara is likely to get in, while the names of former minister Aravind Limbavali and Halappa Achar too were doing the rounds.BJP sources said Munirathna’s name had not been cleared till late Tuesday night. Munirathna, who went to the chief minister’s office in the afternoon, was seen there late in the night.

Sources said one cabinet post could be kept vacant ahead of the bypoll to Maski Assembly constituency.  It was said that Excise Minister H Nagesh could be dropped. But he is said to have met the chief minister and put in a request to retain him.

Sources said the party was not keen on including Katti and Nirani in the cabinet, but Yediyurappa convinced the party high command that they should be on board. Eight-time MLA Umesh Katti on Tuesday said that he has the experience of being a minister for 13 years which will help him serve the state better if he is included in the cabinet. Sources said the inclusion of Katti, who hails from Belagavi, is important because of the upcoming LS bypolls there.

This will be the third expansion since Yediyurappa took over as CM in July 2019. In August 2019, 17 ministers were inducted, while in February 2020, ten newcomers to the BJP.Speculation over cabinet expansion started after R Shankar and MTB Nagaraj were elected as MLCs in June last year and the CM too visited Delhi to get approval from the party high command for a cabinet reshuffle or expansion. The delay in getting the approval had triggered speculation that there could be a leadership change.