Cabinet reshuffle by month-end, says Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday reiterated that he would reshuffle his council of ministers by this month end, rekindling hopes of party MLAs who are aspiring to be ministers.

Speaking to reporters at his official residence Cauvery, he said he has discussed about the reshuffle with AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh. The reshuffle will be done by the end of this month, he added.

Many Congress MLAs, who met Singh earlier in the day at Kumara Krupa Guest House, were disappointed as the Congress leaders indicated that the reshuffle was not likely to happen till May-end. Singh was in Bengaluru to attend a seminar organised by the KPCC on B R Ambedkar.

‘Not appropriate’

Sources in the Congress said Singh told the MLAs that it would not be appropriate for the party to undertake the reshuffle exercise when the state is reeling under drought. Moreover, the party leadership is currently busy in the Assembly elections to five states.

The elections are scheduled to conclude in the third week of May. R V Devaraj, Dr A B Maalakaraddy, S T Somashekar and Munirathna were among over a dozen MLAs who met Singh at Kumara Krupa guest house.

The MLAs had recently submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging him to reshuffle the council of ministers. They demanded that at least 25 non-performing ministers should be dropped.

Siddaramaiah was scheduled to visit Delhi on April 15 and 16 to discuss the reshuffle with the party high command. But he later cancelled his Delhi visit and, instead, chalked out a plan to tour the drought-hit areas of the state.

‘CM’s discretion’

On seeking his reaction on the demand for reshuffle, Singh told reporters that the reshuffle is left to the discretion of the chief minister.

“Whether to reshuffle or not is left to the chief minister's discretion. He will take an appropriate decision at the right time,” he added.

The Congress leader ruled out the possibility of leadership change in the state, saying that the question does not arise.