Reddys unlikely to figure in State ministry expansion

However, Chief Minister V S Sadananda Gowda, who on Wednesday ruled out creating the post of deputy chief minister, remained ambivalent on the induction of the tainted Re­ddy brothers in his government.

Those aspiring for Cabinet be­rths in Karnataka may have to wait for some more time—a  couple of weeks at least—as Gowda clarified that “it will take a few more days” for the expansion of the ministry.

While sources in the BJP central leadership indicated that the two Reddy brothers—Ka­r­unakara and Janardhana—will not be taken in, there is a pr­oposal to bring on board their brother Somashekara into the government besides one more from Bellary district.

Additionally, either Somalingappa or Suresh Babu from the mining district may be included, it is said. The Reddy brothers, who met BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior leader Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, held discussions with Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar on Wednesday. Their one-time “godmother” Sushma Swaraj is said to have declined to meet them.

The pro-Yeddyurappa ministers who met several senior leaders here on Tuesday also urged the leadership not to include the Reddys in the Cabinet.  However, the leadership is said to have asked Gowda to consider taking in any of the names mentioned by the Reddys in the light of their Bellary districts having eight party MLAs.

Besides, two MPs—those of Bellary and Raichur—are relatives of their friend and former minister Sriramulu. At a press meet on Wednesday, the chief minister said: “Decision on addition and deletion will be taken in consultation with party’s central and state leaderships. I am not the only one to take decisions. All the directions given by the central leadership will be implemented after consultations.”

It is said that several names of probables cropped up during Gowda’s consultations with the leadership .  Frontrunners from the Vokkaliga community are Jeevaraj and C T Ravi from Chikm­aglur district. Another Vokkaliga C P Yogeshwar is also a strong contender.
From the Ediga community, the choice may be between Belur Gopalakrishna and J Narasimhaswamy of Chikballapur.

The chances of Varthur Prakash, said to be favoured by state BJP chief and fellow Kuruba K S Eshwarappa, are bright. Basavaraj Patil Attur of Gulbarga, the lone Lingayat fr­om the Hyderabad-Karnataka area, may also make it.

The other aspirants include: Appu Pattanashetty or Bellubbi (Bijapur), Satish Jarkiholi (Valmiki-ST from Gokak), Sanjay Patil (Jain-Belgaum), Rajugouda (Gulbarga), Uttarahalli Srinivas/Shankaralinge Gowda (Vokkaliga) etc.