If all goes as per plan, the chief minister, who reached New Delhi on Sunday evening, is likely to drop four ministers and induct seven as three posts are vacant. Yeddyurappa met senior party leader Arun Jaitley soon after he arrived and will call on party chief Nitin Gadkari on Monday.
Yeddyurappa, accompanied by state BJP unit president K S Eshwarappa, is said to be keen on inducting his confidante Shobha Karandlaje, V Somanna, Vijayashankar, A Ramdas, CC Patil or Appu Pattanashatti, Anekal Narayanaswamy, Jeevaraj or CT Ravi into his
Cabinet.
Among those who may be dropped include Arvind Limbavali, Mumtaz Ali Khan, Shivanagouda Naik and Ravindranath. The chief minister told reporters that there was no problem for the reshuffle of his ministerial team. Talks were going on without any hitch.
Responding to a question, he said it was not proper to say senior leader Ananth Kumar was unhappy with the proposed reshuffle. He added that Kumar was not participating in the discussions as he was ill. Kumar did not attend a core committee meeting in Bangalore on Saturday.
The chief minister may return to Bangalore on Monday evening.
Earlier, in Bangalore, the State BJP leaders failed to arrive at a consensus on whether to go for a comprehensive Cabinet reshuffle or just fill existing vacancies. Later, the BJP leaders decided to take up the issue with the party leadership.
They failed to arrive at an agreement after a marathon meeting for the second consecutive day. Party national leader Venkaiah Naidu was present in the meeting held at the chief minister’s Race Course Road residence in Bangalore. Differences have cropped up among top leaders—Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa and Ananth Kumar. Yeddyurappa, sources said, wants to fill the three vacancies. And Eshwarappa is batting for a comprehensive reshuffle of the 28-month-old ministry.
On his part, Ananth Kumar is insisting on status quo till the completion of upcoming zilla and taluk panchayat elections.
Eshwarappa is said have been insisting on a reshuffle that will take into account seniority, representation to districts and communities. And the chief minister is said to be set against dropping any of five ministers who are supporting the government as independent MLAs.
Party MLAs who are aspiring to be ministers have started hectic lobbying. Supporters of H S Shankarlinge Gowda and C T Ravi met the chief minister at his residence and urged him to induct their leaders into the ministry.
DH News Service
