CM’s Cabinet Expansion Set for Sep 22, Ministers Express Concern

Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Sep 20: The long-awaited expansion of the two-year-old B S Yeddyurappa ministry in the state is almost certain to be held on Wednesday September 22.
               
According to sources close to the chief minister, who had rushed to Delhi for holding talks with BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari, L K Advani and other Central leaders for securing green signal for fulfilling his desire to fill up the three vacancies and dropping some of the ''non-peforming” ministers to accommodate some of strong aspirants in a bid to ensure that the cabinet expansion did not lead to further problems for his government, had been reportedly given the go-ahead.
               
The chief minister is believed to be keen on holding the swearing-in ceremony on September 22 morning at 9.30 am, as it is considered to be the most auspicious moment.

Yeddyurappa had to rush to Delhi for holding talks with BJP national president and other Central leaders as he was unable to get the concurrence of the BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar, who stayed off the core committee meeting attended by senior party leader and former national president Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday night and Sunday. Venkaiah Naidu also participated in the discussions with the BJP national leaders in Delhi.

He is believed to have managed to convince the party’s national leaders on the necessity of carrying out the cabinet expansion and especially carry out his main agenda of re-inducting ousted minister Shobha Karandlaje, who hails from Puttur in coastal Dakshina Kannada district and belongs to the Bunt community equivalent to the Vokkaligas in the Old Mysore region, and former minister V Somanna, who had to resign his ministerial post following his failure to get elected to either house of the state legislature within the stipulated six months.
               
Even as Ananth Kumar, who had nursed ambitions of occupying the top-most post in the state and had been forced to accept Yeddyurappa as the chief minister,  had raised serious objections to the expansion of the cabinet at this stage on the ground that it might lead to dissidence and hurt the ruling party’s prospects during the forthcoming elections to the taluk and zilla panchayats during November or December,  state BJP president K S Eshwarappa is known have extended his complete support to the chief minister.

It may be recalled that Eshwarappa was at loggerheads with the chief minister until recently and had aligned himself with Ananth Kumar till recently.  In the changed political circumstances in the state, after Eshwarappa had to quit his ministerial post to accept the state party presidentship to take over from D V Sadananda Gowda, Ananth Kumar does not enjoy much support within the state legislature party. The national general secretary, however, is said to be secretly working in coordination with the Bellary Reddy brothers, who had waged a serious dissidence war against Yeddyurappa almost a year ago.

The chief minister, who is expected to return to Bangalore from Delhi late tonight, would be finalizing the names of ministers to be dropped from the cabinet to make way for some fresh faces to tone up the cabinet’s image and give representation to different regions and communities. Incidentally, the chief minister had a chance meeting with state governor H R Bhardwaj at the state Bhavan in Delhi, when Eshwarappa was also present. But the BJP national core committee, which is expected to meet in Delhi on Monday night, is expected to discuss the developments in state.

Meanwhile, the former union minister and the state government’s representative in Delhi Dhananjaya Kumar, who enjoys cabinet rank and is known to be staunch supporter of Yeddyurappa,  has indicated in Delhi that the cabinet expansion will take place on September 22. He, however, refused to disclose the number of new inductees or even the number of ministers to be dropped to make way for fresh faces.

''The chief minister will hold consultations with senior party leaders and his cabinet colleagues after reaching Bangalore in the night and also with Sangh Parivar leaders. The consultations will go on tomorrow also and a final picture will emerge only after these consultations,” he said making it clear that it will be ''too premature” to indicate any numbers or names at this stage.

While the number or names of ministers, who are likely to be axed from the Yeddyurappa cabinet is not known as of now, what is clear that Shobha Karadlaje and V Somanna will definitely stage a comeback. Among the other strong contenders to get ministerial berths are C T Ravi, who belongs to the Vokkaliga community and is from Chikmagalur district, C H Vijayashankar of Mysore from the Kuruba community and Narayanaswamy of Anekal, belonging to the Scheduled Caste community. Another legislator from the Vokkaliga community from Mysore, A Ramadas or D N Jeevaraj from Sringeri constituency from Chikmagalur are strongly tipped to become ministers.

Incidentally, Lingayat community leaders like Sogadu Shivanna from Tumkur, former minister S K Bellubbi or Appu Pattansetty as also Idiga legislator from Shimoga district Belur Gopalakrishna are top in the list of contenders for ministerial berths. The pulls and pressures exerted by these leaders might decide if any of the aspirants manage to enter cabinet.

Though the names or number of ministers to be dropped is not known, there are strong rumours that the chief minister may ask some of the independent legislators like Shivanagouda Naik, D Sudhakar, Goolihatti Shekhar,  who were made ministers as the price for their unconditional support to the Yeddyurappa ministry when it marginally fell short of the 113-mark for a clear majority in the 224-member state assembly after the 2008 elections, and some of the non-performing or ineffective ministers like S A Ravindranath and Mumtaz Ali Khan might also be sacked if the number of new incumbents goes up.

Even as speculation about the ministers to be dropped or the names of new inductees was doing the rounds in political circles, the ruling party legislators began organising their group meetings in the city much before the chief minister's return. The BJP MLA from Sagar in Yeddyurappa’s home district of Shimoga, Belur Gopalakrishna, was in the forefront of the pressure-building campaign.

Gopalakrishna went to the extent of publicly indicating that a group of about 20 MLAs and ministers, under the leadership of excise minister M P Renukacharya, have decided to resign en-masse to protest against ''the gross injustice” to staunch party loyalists.

“Red carpet has been laid out to outsiders and first-timers while injustice has been meted out to loyalists”, Gopalakrishna said. A group of MLAs and ministers, which he termed as a “wing”, would meet on Tuesday September 21 to decide the future course of action under the leadership of Renukacharya, he said.

Renukacharya, who is expected to return to Bangalore from Dubai on Tuesday, strongly supported the claims of Gopalakrishna to become a minister. ''It would send a strong signal to the backward classes as he belongs to the Idiga community which has a sizeable following in several districts,” the minister said.

Gopalakrishna, who has publicly declared his desire to join Cabinet several times in the past, said that he has not indulged in any dissident or anti-party activity. “Still I have a desire to become the minister in the government. If I or others like me are blamed for dissident activities for voicing our genuine concerns, I must point out that even Eshwarappa is guilty of the same offence. In fact, Eshwarappa indulged in dissident activity even while continuing as a cabinet minister,” he said.

C T Ravi organized another meeting of his supporters at a private hotel in the city. Meanwhile, public libraries minister Shivanagouda Naik indicated that he would quit his assembly membership if he was asked to resign. ''I do not hope that the chief minister would stoop to the level of asking the independents, who had helped the cabinet to gain clear majority in the hour of his need, to resign.”

Fisheries and science and technology minister Anand Asnotikar welcomed Yeddyurappa’s proposal to reshuffle the Cabinet and said he is confident of continuing in the Cabinet. It is appropriate and essential to reshuffle the Cabinet by dropping non-performers, scam-tainted or those who damage the image of the party,” he said adding: “I am a firm believer of the BJP principles and sincerely discharging duties assigned to me.”

Incidentally, rural development minister Jagadish Shettar, who had quit his post as speaker of the state assembly to join the cabinet, felt it was wrong to ask any of the independents, who had helped by extending unconditional support for forming the government, should never be dropped. ''If the independents, who were ministers, are dropped, it would send wrong signals to the party workers and people,” he said pointing out that the core committee should discuss the pros and cons of the entire issue.