Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 31: The legislators who got elected in the bypoll, concerned by the postponement of the legislature session and possibility of the date of their swearing in being pushed further away, have been bringing pressure on chief minister (CM), B S Yediyurappa, to hasten the process of admitting them into the state ministry. Many of them want the expansion to happen on January 15, which is considered auspicious being Makar Sankranti day. The main concern of the ministerial aspirants is that their dream of becoming ministers might be postponed as the legislature session which was to begin on January 20 has been pushed to February 17.

All the 11 newly elected legislators want the ministry expansion to happen on January 15 or 16. MLAs S T Somashekhar, Gopalayya, Byrathi Basavaraj, B C Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi and others have already placed a demand to induct them as ministers on this day, it is learnt. They have reminded Yediyurappa of his promise to make them ministers within 48 hours of getting elected. They feel that if they are made ministers now, they can have some control over their departments in a month and prepare suggestions for the budget proposals.

It is said that other legislators like Sullia MLA Angara, Aravind Limbavali, Ramdas and several others have been demanding for a place in the ministry. Some current ministers are worried about the chances of losing their positions in case the ministry is reshuffled in a bid to accommodate newly elected MLAs and those waiting in the wings.

Yediyurappa is under compulsion to make Byrathi Basavaraj and R Shankar ministers as they represent Kuruba community. Even though MTB Nagaraj and H Vishwanath were defeated, there is pressure from others to include them in the ministry. If Muniratna gets elected in the coming bypoll from Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency here, he will have to be included in the ministry in which case there will be eight ministers from the city. Bypoll was not held in Muniratna's constituency because of pending election petition. There will be six ministers from Belagavi, and Lingayat will emerge as the prominent beneficiary which will give rise to regional imbalance. Therefore, ministry re-organization appears to be the most likely remedy.

Reports say that Yediyurappa has convinced the recently elected MLAs that he will serve the interests of MTB Nagaraj and H Vishwanath even if they cannot be made ministers immediately.