Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Dec 31: At the meeting of the BJP core committee held here on Thursday December 30, it was decided to fill in the vacancies in the state ministry after Sankranti festival which falls on January 14, 2011. However, the committee has not finalized the names of the new ministers.

At the meeting led by state BJP in-charge, Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan, discussions were held about the possible seats the party candidates will win in the taluk and zilla panchayat elections, and the strategies to be adopted to effectively counter the onslaught of the combined opposition at the assembly session starting on January 6. The core committee will meet again after the zilla and taluk panchayat elections results come out, to  discuss in detail about the cabinet expansion, appointment to boards and corporations, besides other pending issues.

Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa, state BJP president, K S Eshwarappa, national general secretary, Anant Kumar, former state BJP president and MP, D V Sadanand Gowda, rural development and panchayat raj minister, Jagadish Shettar, BJP general secretary, Santosh, and national organizing secretary, Satish, participated in the meeting. Jaitley reportedly told the Chief Minister to choose the ministers on the basis of the region to which he or she belongs, caste affiliation, and loyalty to the party, duly asserting that no other criteria should be adopted in their selection.  Jaitley also reportedly told the Chief Minister to give an open offer to take up land scam discussions at the assembly session, and suggested that if the opposition parties do not agree for the same, a different strategy should be adopted.

Jaitley was appreciative of the initiatives undertaken by the Chief Minister in appointing a judge for investigating denotification and other land scams during the last 14 years. He felt that the government should not dither from the issue of discussing the land scam issues threadbare, and instead, should wash itself of this blemish by effectively replying to each and every allegation the opposition will make against the government.