Those left out of cabinet will be used for party work: Bommai

Seven BJP legislators, who were ministers in the previous B S Yediyurappa government, have not found a place in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s Cabinet.

They are Jagadish Shettar, S Suresh Kumar, Arvind Limbavali, Laxman Savadi, C P Yogeshwar, Shrimant Patil and R Shankar.

Shettar, a former chief minister who was the industries minister in the previous regime, had opted out of entering Bommai’s Cabinet citing his “seniority and moral grounds”.

Savadi was the deputy chief minister and transport minister previously. Kumar was minister for primary and secondary education.

Patil was minister for textiles, Limbavali was minister for forest and Kannada and Culture, Yogeshwar was minister for tourism, ecology and environment and Shankar was minister for horticulture.

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“The BJP central leadership has decided that some seniors and those who have organizational experience will be deployed on party work,” Bommai told reporters.

He added that there was no confusion or pressure during the formation of his Cabinet.

According to a senior BJP leader, Yediyurappa had asked the party not to take in Yogeshwar. “Yogeshwar’s exit was imminent. There were allegations that he blackmailed the CM no less,” he said.

BJP vice-president and Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra did not find a place in the Cabinet despite pressure mounted by the former chief minister.

According to Bommai, BJP national president JP Nadda himself spoke to Yediyurappa whereas BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in Karnataka, spoke to Vijayendra.

Shankar, an MLC, said he was disappointed. “I spoke with the chief minister in the morning. He said there are four vacancies and that he would try to accommodate me,” he said.