After big win, BSY faces Cabinet rejig challenge

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is expected to expand his Cabinet in a week’s time after the BJP secured a comfortable majority in the Assembly by winning 12 of the 15 constituencies in the bypolls whose results were out Monday.

Of the 15, the BJP needed to win at least six. With 12 seats in its kitty, the BJP’s tally is now 117, which is well past the halfway mark of 111 in a 222-member Assembly.

The high-stakes bypolls went comfortably in favour of the ruling BJP, which won 12 of the 15 seats — 11 of whom were defectors from the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition.

Congress was successful in winning only two seats, by retaining Shivajinagar and winning at Hunsur constituency — where former JD(S) president A H Vishwanath lost.

In a major setback, JD(S) could not win a single seat despite significant presence in eight of the 15 constituencies which voted on December 5.

The only Independent candidate to win was Sharath Bachegowda, son of BJP MP B N Bachegowda, who edged past BJP candidate M T B Nagaraj at Hoskote constituency.

Yediyurappa, who oversaw the BJP’s landslide victory, is likely to visit Delhi in a couple of days to hold talks with the Central leadership on expanding his Cabinet, which could see two new deputy chief ministers, in order to accommodate the rebel legislators who won the bypolls.

“They (disqualified MLAs) made sacrifices for us. We have promised to make them ministers. There is no question of going back on this promise,” Yediyurappa said. In the 15 constituencies, the BJP had fielded 13 disqualified MLAs of whom 11 have won and are likely to get ministerial berths.

There is still no clarity on the future of disqualified legislators A H Vishwanath and M T B Nagaraj who lost from Hunsur and Hoskote, respectively. Apparently, Vishwanath was promised a deputy chief ministerial berth and Nagaraj a place in the Cabinet. Talk within the party circles is that Vishwanath may not be accommodated for now, given his defeat, but Nagaraj will be “suitably” rehabilitated.

The BJP also lost in Shivajinagar, which the Congress retained through Rizwan Arshad. The CM faces a tightrope walk as at least a dozen new faces will need to be inducted into the Cabinet, given that he will have to consider caste and regional representation.

Among the winners are three Lingayats, four Vokkaligas and one Kuruba. Inducting them will increase the number of Lingayats in the Cabinet to 11 and Vokkaligas to seven.

Moreover, Yediyurappa will be forced to add three more ministers to the Cabinet from Belagavi, which already has a deputy CM in Laxman Savadi and another minister, and three from Bengaluru that already has four ministers. This could provide ammunition to the Opposition to target the government on regional disparity.

The bypoll winners include Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), who might be considered for a deputy CM position.

The bypoll win will also help Yediyurappa consolidate his position within the BJP, as many credit him with the victory. For his part, Yediyurappa hailed the party’s organisation for the result. “There’s no government without the party organisation. Only when both go together can we work for development,” he said.

He also reached out to the Opposition Congress and JD(S). “At least now, I request them to extend their support. We should now focus on the state’s development. For the next three years, I will focus on good governance. In the next Assembly polls, we will aim to win 150 seats, which will be our gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the CM said.