BS Yediyurappa confirms Karnataka cabinet expansion to be on February 6

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said that 13 new ministers will be inducted to the cabinet on February 6, here on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, he said that 10 newly elected and three BJP MLAs, who are old timers, will be sworn-in on Thursday, taking the cabinet strength to 31.

Yediyurappa, however, did not respond to a question on whether there would be a cabinet reshuffle after February 6.

The announcement came almost two months after the December by-poll results, as the CM's attempt to meet the BJP high command to finalise cabinet expansion was delayed multiple times.

During the period, pressure has piled up on the CM as he had promised to induct all newly elected MLAs, among the group of 17 who defected from the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition. Of the 13 who contested, 11 won the by-polls.

The new cabinet, when expanded, is expected to bring additional challenges to the CM. Allegations of over-representation to Belagavi and Bengaluru Urban districts in the cabinet is expected to surface, as Bengaluru Urban will have seven ministers in the cabinet and Belagavi will have five or six. Several districts where BJP swept the 2018 Assembly polls do not have representation in the cabinet.

Newly elected MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, S T Somshekar, Byrathi Basavaraj, K Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Shrimanth Patil, B C Patil, Anand Singh, K Gopalaiah and K C Narayan Gowda are expected to be ministers, while Mahesh Kumathalli will be made Special Representative to New Delhi. Kumathalli's induction to the cabinet was affected as Dy CM Laxman Savadi also hails from the same constituency.

Eight-time MLA Umesh Katti is expected to bag another cabinet berth, while names of MLAs Arvind Limbavali, Halappa Achar and V Sunil Kumar, and MLC C P Yogeeshwar are doing the rounds for the other two positions in the cabinet.