CM to meet Congress high command over Cabinet expansion

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to hold talks with the Congress high command in New Delhi on June 28 on filling three vacancies in his Council of Ministers.

He will be leaving for the national capital to be present when the Opposition candidate for the Presidential poll Meira Kumar files her nomination papers on June 28. “I will utilise the occasion to speak to the party high command. I plan to take up the Cabinet expansion at the earliest,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Bengaluru on Sunday on the sidelines of an event.

There are three vacancies in the Cabinet following the demise of former minister H S Mahadeva Prasad (Lingayat) and resignation of H Y Meti (Kuruba) and G Parameshwara (Dalit).

Party sources said Siddaramaiah is likely to fill the vacancies with leaders from the same communities to maintain the caste balance in the Cabinet.

For the Dalit quota, the names of R B Thimmapura, P M Narendraswamy and Motamma are doing the rounds. Under the Lingayat quota, MLAs K Shadakshari, Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, wife of the late Mahadeva Prasad and Karnataka Special Representative in New Delhi C S Nadagouda are said to be in the race. Meti is likely to be re-inducted.

However, a final decision on Cabinet expansion may not materialise on June 28 as the AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi is yet to return from Italy, the sources added.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal will arrive in Bengaluru on a four-day visit on June 27. He will participate in a function organised at Kodalasangama in Bagalkot district to felicitate S R Patil following his appointment as KPCC Working president (north Karnataka). Venugopal will later visit Hassan, Mangaluru and Mysuru to interact with the party’s district units there.