CM Bommai says no plan to discuss Karnataka cabinet rejig during Delhi visit

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who arrived in Delhi on Thursday, June 23, said he has no plans to meet the top BJP leadership during the trip to discuss the long-pending cabinet rejig in the state. The Chief Minister reached Delhi to be present during the filing of nominations by BJP presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Friday. "I came to Delhi for the presidential elections. I will return after the nominations are filed tomorrow. This time, there are no plans to meet the party top leaders and discuss the cabinet expansion," Bommai told reporters.

The party leaders are busy with the presidential elections. It has been a usual affair to see media reports about the possible cabinet expansion whenever the CM visits the national capital, he said. "I am not meeting anyone this time. I will return tomorrow after filing the nominations for the presidential election," he added. Bommai will be one of the proposers for the NDA candidate.

Reacting to Forest Minister Umesh Katti's statement on creating a separate north Karnataka, the Chief Minister said there is no proposal or thinking at the government level on this issue. "Katti had made such statements earlier also. He himself should reply to this question. However, there is no such proposal before the government," he said.

Katti had said there will be 50 States in the country after the 2024 general Lok Sabha election and north Karnataka will be one among the new ones. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to form 50 States in the country after the 2024 elections. I came to know that he is mulling over it,” Umesh Katti, who also holds the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs portfolios, told reporters in Belagavi. 

Katti said the idea of splitting the state is good because the burden of population has increased over the years. “North Karnataka should become a state and develop. We will remain as Kannadigas but there is no harm if the state (Karnataka) is divided,” Katti said on the sidelines of an event.