Bengalur: A wave of dissatisfaction has hit the six-month-old BJP Government against the backdrop of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s announcement to induct 13 aspirants in the second Cabinet expansion on Feb. 6 (tomorrow).
Owing to discontentment, only 10 or 12 Ministers will be inducted to the Cabinet by Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, who will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new members who will join the Council of Ministers inside the Glass House of Raj Bhavan at 10.30 am.
In the first Cabinet expansion, the CM had inducted 17 Ministers on Aug. 20, 2019. Latest reports from Bengaluru say that only 10 or 12 Ministers (including those who defected to BJP from Congress and JD-S and have been re-elected) will be inducted tomorrow as several senior BJP leaders are miffed at not finding a place in the Cabinet.
Yediyurappa is finding it increasingly difficult to keep all his party MLAs united in the run-up to the Cabinet expansion. Several senior leaders have expressed dissatisfaction over the sidelining of loyal and able party leaders. As such, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is learnt to have advised the CM to only induct 10 Ministers tomorrow to at least please those who have ‘sacrificed’ for the BJP’s cause.
While 10 out of the 11 turncoat MLAs, barring Athani MLA Mahesh Kumthalli, who were elected in the by-polls held on Dec.5 last are certain to make it into the Cabinet, two senior party MLAs Umesh Katti from Belagavi district and Aravind Limbavali from Bengaluru too are likely to find berths.
Apart from this, speculations are also doing the rounds that multiple-time BJP MLA S.S. Angara of Sullia, Haladi Srinivas Shetty of Kundapur and Halappa Achar of Yelburga (Koppal) too may make it into the Cabinet in the last minute.
The 10 newly-elected MLAs, who are certain to find Cabinet berths are: S.T. Somashekar (Yeshwantpur), Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), Byrathi Basavaraj (K.R. Puram), Dr. K. Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura), Shrimant Patil (Kagwad), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapura), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), B.C. Patil (Hirekerur), Anand Singh (Vijayanagar-Hospet) and K.C. Narayanagowda (K.R. Pet).
Meanwhile, three-time Saundatti MLA Anand Mamani showed his discontentment via multiple tweets. “The people who recently joined the party are being made Ministers. It goes to show that there is no value for legislators who were loyal to the party,’’ Mamani said.
In his tweets, Mamani also objected to senior leaders holding onto their posts, not making way for others. The inclusion of some ‘unfit’ legislators and continuation of some senior Ministers has not gone down well with senior BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal. He said the Government must assess the performance of Ministers once every three months.
BJP legislators are upset over the plan to induct C.P. Yogeeshwar. Some MLAs met in Bengaluru to discuss the developments. After their meeting, MLA and the Chief Minister’s Political Secretary M.P. Renukacharya said there is nothing new or wrong in holding meetings among MLAs. “It’s not a revolt or rebellion. We will never question the high command’s decision. The only thing that’s bothering us is the decision to make defeated candidates Ministers,” said Renukacharya.
This post was published on February 5, 2020 6:45 pm