BJP puts off RS picks by two weeks

Of the seven seats in the Council, the ruling party will bag four

Members of the Core Committee who met at a private resort on the outskirts of the City, have decided to meet again on May 28. Those attended the meeting include Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, BJP State President K S Eshwarappa, Member of Lok Sabha Ananth Kumar and RSS leaders.

Of the seven seats, four will will be bagged by the BJP in the Council polls scheduled to be held on June 10. The party is planning to field two candidates for Rajya Sabha elections.
For the Council seats, names of Thippanna, V Sommanna and Narayana Bandige are said to have been almost finalised for the Council polls while D C Thammanna’s name is being mentioned for the fourth seat. Names of Bhanuprakash, Ayanoor Manjunath and Puttaswamy are also making rounds for council elections.

For the two nominated seats, the names that are being mentioned are Mukhya Mantri Chandru and A R Krishna Murthy.

No decision has been taken yet on candidates for Rajya Sabha polls, though names of Venkaiah Naidu, Vamanacharya, Dayanand Pai and Dhananjay Kumar are making rounds. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Eshwarappa said the names will be finalised on May 28.

Cabinet reshuffle

According to sources, the core committee members are divided over the timing of the proposed Cabinet reshuffle. While a section led by Yeddyurappa want this to be done after the Monsoon session of the Legislature, others want it to precede the session.

Sources said it was planned to drop half a dozen Cabinet Ministers and induct new members. However, the committee has not finalised anything in this regard, sources added.

Extended budget session

The extended budget session of the State legislature may commence on June 24. It may continue till July 24 with 24 working days. The demands on the budget for 2010-11 will be discussed during the session. The State Cabinet is yet to give its approval for the commencement of the session, official sources said.