Bengaluru: The dissidence activities among State Coalition partners that has been prevailing since from the last few months is likely to come to an end as Congress High Command has given its green signal for Cabinet expansion to fill three Cabinet berths which are vacant now.
The Cabinet rejig will be held on June 5 (Wednesday). Earlier, it was decided to expand the Cabinet today but was postponed to Wednesday due to Amavasya, which is considered inauspicious.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Co-ordination Committee Chief Siddharamaiah held discussions among their party leaders and finalised the date for Cabinet expansion on last Saturday after seeking nod from their high command leaders.
Induction of two Independents R. Shankar (Ranebennur) and H. Nagesh (Mulbagal) seems to be certain for the Cabinet.
It may be recalled that leaders of the Congress and JD(S), held a series of meetings with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge K.C. Venugopal on last Wednesday and they did not arrive at a consensus on the proposal to expand or reshuffle the Cabinet and placed it before the Congress high command.
They had discussed various options in an attempt to placate MLAs who have been approached by the BJP with offers of Ministerial berths and differences cropped up between coalition partners on the issue.
Though there are three vacant Cabinet berths including Congress (1) and JD(S) 2. Nearly a dozen Congress MLAs and JD(S) are aspirants to become Ministers. Both the parties decided to induct two independents and one from Congress.
As induction of independents Shankar and Nagesh is imminent during this Cabinet rejig, Congress leaders are considering the options of inducting Hirekerur MLA B.C. Patil, Chikkaballapur MLA Dr K. Sudhakar or Congress rebel camp leader Gokak MLA Ramesh Jharkhiholi to the remaining seat. Congress has entrusted the responsibility to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to convince miffed Ramesh Jharkhiholi to join his Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Siddharamaiah is said to have recommended CM HDK to induct B.C. Patil if Ramesh is unwilling to join the Cabinet.
As JD(S) has given its two vacant seats to Congress to fill from its quota, several JD(S) MLAs are said to be unhappy with the CM’s move on surrendering its two vacant Cabinet berths to Congress and this is likely to trigger dissidence activities in JD(S) camp after the Cabinet expansion.
Both the coalition leaders have been making all efforts to save the government by Cabinet expansion. It is learnt that Mulbagal MLA Nagesh had met the State Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar demanding Cabinet berth.
This post was published on June 3, 2019 7:51 pm