Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 30: Chief minister B S Yediyurappa, has clarified that he would be leaving for New Delhi today afternoon, meet BJP national president J P Nadda, and get his assent for the list of legislators he proposes to elevate as ministers.

Yediyurappa said today that ministry expansion is almost sure to happen on Friday. Before leaving for Davos, he had assured that the expansion would happen immediately upon his return. In the meanwhile, pressure from MLAs waiting to be made ministers, and those loyal to the BJP have increased and Yediyurappa has decided to put an end to all kinds of rumours and bickering and expand the ministry at the earliest.

The chief minister is scheduled to meet Nadda at 9 pm today. He will then meet union home minister Amit Shah at 10 pm and discuss with him the issue of ministry expansion.

Yediyurappa said here that he is 99 percent sure about the expansion happening tomorrow. He said that after meeting Nadda and Shah, a decision about ministry expansion will be finalized. After that, he said, he will meet Prime Minster Narendra Modi, and return tomorrow.

The suspense over who among the 11 legislators who crossed over to the BJPL and won the bypoll on BJP ticket will get the nod will most probably be over by tomorrow. Ramesh Jarkiholi and his team, which has been waiting in the wings patiently, had set February 1 as deadline for ministry expansion. While Yediyurappa is hell bent on making all those who crossed over to the party ministers, there has been pressure from the 'original' BJP members too for opportunities. Therefore one has to wait till tomorrow to see the final outcome and how will Yediyurappa do the balancing act.