CM B S Yediyurappa, J P Nadda to decide whether to rejig cabinet or expand it

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday said he would meet party national president J P Nadda and discuss whether to reshuffle his cabinet or expand it.

The CM, who is in Delhi for a three-day tour, told reporters that he would discuss the matter with party leaders.

“I will go by the advice of the party leaders on whether to reshuffle or expand the ministry,” he said. MLC H Vishwanath, who quit JD(S) to join the BJP, former minister and CM’s political secretary Renukacharya, have also landed in Delhi. They are among the ministerial aspirants. Sericulture Minister Seemanth Patil also arrived in Delhi and is meeting party leaders.

The CM is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning and seek funds to the state for relief works in flood-hit
areas.

Karnataka Bhavan

Yediyurappa will lay the foundation stone for the new building of the Karnataka Bhavan in the national capital on Friday. This will be the second time that the work will be launched as the ceremony had been held once last year.

Though the CM’s official programme says he will attend “puja for the commencement of the construction work of Cauvery Karnataka Bhavan-1,” Parliamentary Affairs J C Madhuswamy said after the Cabinet meeting in Bengaluru on Wednesday that the CM will lay the foundation stone for the new building.

The work was approved by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government after the old building was demolished. Later, the Kumaraswamy-led government approved the building plan last year.

Kumaraswamy had laid the foundation stone for the building on March 8, 2019. The estimated construction cost of the building, which was Rs 82 crore then, has been increased to Rs 120 crore now.