Three Ministers Axed, Cabinet Expansion on Sep 22 Morning

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Sep 21: It is official. Three cabinet rank ministers in the 28-month-old B S Yeddyurappa ministry – higher education minister Aravind Limbavali, adult education and public libraries minister Shivanagouda Naik and sports minister Goolihatti Shekhar – have been dropped.
               
Governor H R Bhardwaj accepted the chief minister’s letter forwarding the resignations of the three ministers and has issued an official communication to that effect even as the stage is set for the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan lawns on Wednesday September 22 at 9.30 am.

Dropped: Aravind Limbavali, Goolihatti Shekhar, Shivanagouda Naik

In: V Somanna, Shobha Karandlaje, C C Patil, A Ramadas,
Vijayashankar, Narayanaswamy

With the acceptance of the resignation letters of the three ministers, Yeddyurappa will be inducting six ministers in his cabinet as the size of the cabinet, including the chief minister, cannot exceed 34 which is 15 per cent of the combined strength of both houses of state legislature.

Former rural development and Panchayat Raj minister Shobha Karandlaje, who had to be axed at the instance of the all-powerful Bellary Reddy Brothers after their dissidence war against Yeddyurappa; and V Somanna, who had to quit following his failure to become a member of either house of the state legislature within six months of being inducted as minister, are a definite certainty. Among the lucky to get ministerial berths are C C Patil, S A Ramadas, Narayanaswamy and C H Vijayashankar.
               
Given the intense lobbying and pulls and pressures of ruling BJP legislators and their supporters, last minute changes cannot not be ruled out.
                
“I am expanding my ministry tomorrow. The list of those who will be inducted will be finalised by this evening,” Yeddyurappa, who had held a consultation with the party central leadership in Delhi on Monday September 20, told reporters here.

Yeddyurappa, while speaking to reporters in the morning, declined to answer a query on the ministers whom he planned to drop, but state BJP president K S Eswarappa said three from the 31-member ministry would be axed and six inducted.

The reshuffle was preceded by high drama with a minister threatening to commit suicide if he was removed and threat of resignations by some MLAs aspiring for ministerial berths.

Yeddyurappa sought to downplay the suicide threat by sports and youth affairs minister Goolihatti D Shekhar, who warned of the extreme action if dropped from the Cabinet, as also warnings of en masse resignation by some 20 legislators as claimed by rebel MLA Belur Gopalakrishna.

“We will call everybody and hold discussions in a peaceful manner. We will be cautious,” he said.

Police cane supporters of Limbavali

Supporters of Goolihatti protest

In a significant development, the state Cabinet meeting held in the evening was conspicuous by the absence of as many as seven out of the 31 ministers, including tourism and infrastructure development minister G Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and revenue minister G Karunakar Reddy, health and family welfare minister B Sriramulu and rural development and Panchayat Raj minister Jagadish Shettar. They held a parallel meeting at the residence of Shettar and the Reddy Brothers as well as 15 BJP MLAs including former minister S K Bellubbi, who was a strong aspirant, participated.

Janardhana Reddy, who was the rallying point for dissidents last year, has opposed dropping of independents, including sports minister Goolihatti Shekar or minister for adult education Shivanagouda Naik, who quit JDS and joined BJP in 2008. He had even demanded that the expansion and reshuffle of the cabinet be put off to December or January after the forthcoming taluk and zilla panchayat polls.

Janardhana Reddy, and his elder brother G Karunakara Reddy held a meeting and opposed cabinet expansion at present. Several ministers were seen in the Reddy’s residence seeking their support to retain their seat in the Cabinet.

Shekar had yesterday threatened to commit suicide if dropped from the ministry, while Naik has said he would resign his Assembly membership.

Soon after his return from a US trip, excise minister M P Renukacharya, who has been pressing for the induction of Belur Gopalakrishna, held consultations with some MLAs before meeting Yeddyurappa.

Supporters of former minister S N Krishnaiah Shetty, who had quit last year in the wake of allegations relating to sale of state housing board land, organised a procession to press for his return to the ministry.

The reshuffle exercise has triggered resentment among several party MLAs with C T Ravi from Chikmagalur submitting his resignation from Assembly to Eshwarappa. Shankaralinge Gowda and S K Bellubbi have also joined the ranks of the disgruntled and disappointed aspirants.

Appacchu Ranjan, MLA from Madikeri district, also resorted to a similar tactic, BJP sources said.