Cabinet expansion: CM to hold talks with Rahul

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will leave for New Delhi next week to discuss Cabinet expansion and appointments to boards and corporations with the Congress leadership.

The 4-1 victory in the byelections for the ruling coalition has come as a shot-in-the-arm for the alliance partners – JD(S) and Congress.

The Cabinet expansion has been pending for some time now and has been put off several times on one pretext or the other. First, the “inauspicious” month of Ashada was cited and then it was postponed, following the announcement of the bypoll schedule.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda recently gave his green signal for the Cabinet expansion, stating that it will happen soon. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary incharge of Karnataka K C Venugopal also told the media that it is now the right time for Kumaraswamy to expand his Cabinet.

Sources in the chief minister’s secretariat said Kumaraswamy will be holding consultations with senior state leaders of Congress before his trip to the national capital. He will be hold discussions with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi there.

Senior Congress leaders, including former chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, are also likely to visit Delhi.

Ministerial aspirants in the Congress are many and it will be a challenge for the party leadership to shortlist names for the Cabinet expansion. From the JD(S) camp, interim chairman of the Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti and Sakleshpur MLA H K Kumaraswamy are likely to get Cabinet berths, sources said.