Congress MLAs meet Mallikarjun Kharge, push for cabinet reshuffle in Karnataka

New Delhi: In the midst of ongoing leadership tussle in Karnataka, a group of about 20 Congress MLAs on Monday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge and pressed for an immediate cabinet reshuffle in the Siddaramaiah government to accommodate fresh faces.

The MLAs, including former minister and Delhi Special Representative T B Jayachandra, Chief Whip P M Ashok Pattan, and others such as Y V Patil, G S Patil, Basavaraj Shivannanavar, J T Patil, Yashwanthraya Gouda Patil,Raghavendra Hitnal, A R Krishna Murthy, Beluru Gopalakrishna, Narayana Swamy, D G Shantanagouda, Shadakshari, C Puttaranga Setty, Ravi Ganiga, B Shivanna, and Hampanagouda Badarli and others met Kharge.

The legislators held a closed-door meeting with Kharge for over half an hour.

Emerging from the meeting, Jayachandra told reporters that the legislators urged Kharge to advise Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to carry out a cabinet rejig by inducting new faces.

“We reminded him about the long-pending reshuffle. We suggested that reshuffle will help strengthen the party ahead of the upcoming local body elections,” Jayachandra said.

He added that Kharge gave them a patient hearing and assured them that their demand would be addressed soon.

“We hope the cabinet will be reshuffled at the earliest,” Jayachandra said.

When asked about any possibility of a leadership change in the state, Jayachandra clarified: “We have not discussed that issue at all. It is entirely up to the high command to take a call.”

The MLAs are expected to remain in the national capital for a few more days and are planning to meet Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and Karnataka in-charge General Secretary Randeep Surjewala.

The move comes after a strategy meeting held over dinner in Bengaluru last month, where the dissident MLAs deliberated on their demands following the recent by-elections.

While Siddaramaiah’s camp is pushing for a cabinet expansion and reshuffle, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is reportedly opposed to it.

Currently, two cabinet berths remain vacant following the resignations of K N Rajanna and B Nagendra.

Sources within the party indicated that senior leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to call both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to Delhi in mid-next month — after the five-state assembly election results — to resolve the simmering leadership issue.

The Congress high command is said to be favourable to a major reshuffle, including dropping nearly 20 ministers and bringing in new faces.