‘Will get final list from Amit bhai today’: BS Yediyurappa on Karnataka Cabinet expansion

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday said that the Cabinet expansion will take place on Tuesday as the final list of ministers will reach him ‘within 2-3 hours’. Yediyurappa has been running a one-man cabinet for the past three weeks since taking over to lead the BJP government in the state.

“Within 2-3 hours, I am going to get the final list from Amit bhai (BJP President Amit Shah). So, cabinet expansion will be done tomorrow,” the chief minister told news agency ANI..

“The cabinet expansion will take place between 10:30 and 11:30 am tomorrow. I have already written a letter to the Governor in this regard. I have asked Chief Secretary to make all arrangements,” Yediyurappa said.

The BJP has called a meeting of its legislative party on Tuesday morning, and that new ministers would be sworn in later. The BJP high command’s preoccupation with piloting crucial bills in Parliament, and taking stock of the devastating floods across northern and coastal Karnataka is believed to be behind the delay in the Cabinet expansion.

Asked about the number of ministers likely to be inducted on Tuesday, the chief minister said, “13 to 14 people are likely to be inducted in to the cabinet in the first phase, there may be plus or minus one or two, we have now recommended 13 to 14 of them.”

Yediyurappa has a tightrope to walk during the cabinet expansion as he has to craft a fine caste and regional balance, in view of large number of aspirants.

Unlike its predecessor, the Congress-JD(S) coalition, the BJP government gets bulk of its MLA’s from northern and coastal Karnataka. Also Lingayats – Yediyurappa’s kinsmen and the single largest caste group in the state at around 17% who have overwhelmingly stood by the saffron party —would expect to be rewarded. BJP functionaries who spoke on condition of anonymity indicated that there would be no deputy CM’s post.

Senior political analyst Mahadev Prasad said, “The cabinet expansion will have to be a careful exercise so as not to upset any group within the party, which is why they are likely to keep nearly half the slots empty. What will be interesting to watch is whether any of the rebel MLAs who resigned and helped topple the coalition government are likely to be rewarded immediately.