MLC nominations pile pressure for Cabinet expansion

Bharathi Shetty

A H Vishwanath

Talwar Sabanna 

Governor Vajubhai R Vala on Wednesday nominated former ministers A H Vishwanath, C P Yogeeshwar and three others to the Legislative Council.

BJP’s Mahila Morcha president Bharathi Shetty, academician Talwar Sabanna and social activist Shantharama Budna Siddi are the other nominations to the Upper House.

The move came as a relief to party-hopper Vishwanath, who switched loyalties from the JD(S) to BJP in 2019 along with 16 other legislators. Vishwanath lost the bypolls as a BJP candidate from Hunsur constituency in December last year.

He and M T B Nagaraj were the only two among the 14 defectors from the Congress-JD(S) coalition to lose the bypolls. Nagaraj was accommodated in the Legislative Council in June.

Yogeeshwar, who reportedly played a role in engineering the defections from the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition, had lost from Channapatna constituency in the 2018 elections against Kumaraswamy.

While the move will placate Vishwanath and Yogeeshwar, it is expected to mount pressure on Yediyurappa to go in for a Cabinet expansion.

While defectors Vishwanath, Nagaraj and R Shankar (also recently elected as MLC) are assured a Cabinet berth by virtue of Yediyurappa’s ‘promise,’ Yogeeshwar will be among the ministerial aspirants. Speculation is rife that Yediyurappa may expand his Cabinet in August, where six more ministers can be accommodated.

Both Sabanna - chairman, Economics Department, Rani Channamma University, Belagavi and social activist Shantharama hail from ST community. Their nomination, unlike the first three, according to sources, were recommended by the party high command and is in line with its recent initiative to reward low-profile workers of the party.

Recently, the central leadership had nominated ‘party workers’ Ashok Gasti and Eranna Kadadi to the Rajya Sabha. While the selections had provided a boost to the party cadre, it had also revealed the differences between state and central BJP units.