Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa cancels BJP core committee meeting

In a series of curious developments, the State BJP unit called off its core committee meeting scheduled for Thursday in the city, after Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa - who was earlier scheduled to participate in the meeting - decided to launch development projects and participate in a fair at Vijayapura.

Within a few hours, the chief minister cancelled this visit too, late on Wednesday.

The meeting was supposed to be the first after the official announcement of Nalin Kumar Kateel's appointment as president of the State unit, also scheduled for Thursday. Sources said that the meeting was called off as Yediyurappa did not get an appointment with Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah to discuss Cabinet expansion.

The chief minister is trying to fix an appointment with the BJP high command to discuss the same, ever since the by-polls back in December 2019. According to sources, Shah could participate only in the Citizenship Amendment Act awareness rally in Hubballi and another event in Bengaluru and suggested Yediyurappa to meet him in Delhi to discuss the Cabinet.

The core committee was expected to discuss Cabinet expansion among other issues before Shah gave a go-ahead for the same. However, the recent turn of events has cast yet another cloud on the much-awaited induction of new ministers.

The development came a day after Yediyurappa was left embarrassed at a public forum where seer Vachanananda Swamy demanded three Cabinet berths for members of Panchamasali sect of Lingayats as they had stood behind the chief minister. Apart from pressure from members of his own community, leaders from the Valmiki community, such as health minister B Sriramulu, have also been expressing their discontent over Cabinet berths.

Though the chief minister had announced Cabinet expansion soon after Sankranti festival, the apparent snub by BJP high command has left him red-faced. Now, all indications are that the new ministers will be inducted only after Yediyurappa returns from Davos, after attending the World Economic Forum.