Though it is almost certain that KPCC president G Parameshwara will become an MLC, he still appears to have a long way to realise his dream of becoming deputy chief minister.
Congress sources said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah neither has any plans to expand his ministry till the Legislature session is over nor has he discussed it with the party high command. The session is scheduled to commence on June 23 and will go on for a month.
Soon after the nominations for the Council elections were filed on Monday, speculation was rife in party circles that the ministry expansion will happen. It was rumoured that the expansion would happen either on June 20 or 21, before the commencement of the session. There are four vacancies to be filled in the ministry.
The high command has so far not revealed its mind on making Parameshwara either the deputy chief minister or a minister, sources said.
Parameshwara was one of the strong contenders for the post of chief minister before the 2013 Assembly polls. But he lost the race as he was defeated from the Koratagere seat. However, he has been lobbying to get the post of deputy chief minister. For that, he wanted to become a Council member.
Ministerial aspirants
There is a long list of aspirants for ministerial posts in the State Congress. Senior MLAs K B Koliwad, Dr A B Maalakaraddy, Malikaiah Guttedar and others have been pressuring the party to make them ministers. Sources said that if the chief minister picks one of the members of his caste (Kuruba) to become minister, he may consider H Y Meti of Bagalkot, as he is a senior leader.
New KPCC president
The party will also start looking for a replacement for Parameshwara for the post of KPCC president, if he becomes a minister.
The party constitution says that one person cannot hold two posts at a time. The party may either appoint a Lingayat or a Vokkaliga leader as the president. The name of B L Shankar, a Vokkaliga, has been doing rounds for the post.
