New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that the cabinet expansion will take place "pretty shortly".
He further said that he will be meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund for last year and this year. "I am meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today regarding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund for last year and this year also," said Karnataka Chief Minister.
Earlier on Friday he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought approval for All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Hubballi-Dharwad. Bommai also sought approval for an AIIMS-like institute in Raichur, identified as an aspirational district by the NITI Aayog. He also appealed for upgrading the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital in Kalaburagi to the Regional AIIMS-like Institute.
Bommai also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat, Lok Sabha speaker Om Prakash Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Coals, Prahlad Joshi, Central Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Empowerment Anurag Thakur and held discussions during his visit.
Bommai took oath as the 23rd chief minister of Karnataka on July 28, two days after the resignation of BS Yediyurappa.
Vote bank appeasement
A senior BJP functionary privy to discussions on cabinet formation was quoted in the media as saying that Bommai’s deputy CMs will be from five major social groups — SCs, STs, Vokkaligas, Lingayats and the OBCs.
The aim is to add all communities to the base vote bank of Lingayats and Brahmins. The rainbow Hindu approach is because the BJP has been struggling to cross the magic figure of 113 seats in the assembly polls since 2008.
Sources also said the Bommai may induct fresh faces into the Cabinet. This move may dent the prospects of 11 crossover legislators who were ministers under Yediyurappa.
Senior leaders refuse to join Cabinet
There were also talks of trouble as many seniors said that they would not like to join the new Cabinet under the “changed circumstances.”
Jagadish Shettar, who was the chief minister in 2012-13 and industries minister in BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet, made it clear that he was not in the race for a berth in the Bommai cabinet. “I have decided not to join the cabinet. I had no problem working under Yediyurappa since he is senior to me and I had served as a minister under him earlier. The situation is a little different now, and I have decided to work for the party instead,” Shettar said.
Other senior BJP leaders have also indicated that they may stay away, indicating that a little storm is brewing between seniors and a junior who is now the CM.
The new CM will also be on a tricky turf in dealing with political heavyweights in the BJP, many of whom were in the race for the CM’s post. Even if they join the cabinet, Bommai may find it difficult to assert himself and get his vision for the party implemented.
