Bengaluru, Feb 3: A wave of dissatisfaction has hit the six-month-old BJP government against the backdrop of chief minister B S Yediyurappa's announcement to induct 13 aspirants in the second cabinet expansion on February 6.
In the first cabinet expansion, the chief minister had inducted 17 ministers on August 20, 2019.
Among the 13, ten will be those defectors from Congress and the JD(S) who were disqualified earlier and won the assembly by-election in December last year.
The rest will be the 'native BJP leaders', as deputy chief minister Govind Karjol put it.
Speculations are rife that Mahadevapura MLA Arvind Limbavali, Hukkeri MLA Umesh Katti and C P Yogeshwar, who had lost to H D Kumaraswamy from Channapatna assembly segment,would be inducted.
If Yogeshwar is included in the cabinet then he will bethe second minister after Deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi who had lost and yet made it to the cabinet.
The possible induction of Yogeshwar and Savadi, who was made deputy chief minister despite losing the assembly elections, are also a "reason" for discontent in the BJP.
Hectic activities began in the power corridor and MLAs started forming groups to impress upon the chief minister to include their members in the ministry.
While one group was from the "Kalyana Karnataka" region, the others were the defectors who will be excluded in the cabinet expansion.
A few MLAS from 'Kalyana Karnataka' region or erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region comprising six districts, met at the Legislature Home and held a meeting.
The meeting was led by Shorapur MLA Narasimha Nayak akaRaju Gouda and Honnalli MLA M P Renukacharya.
The MLAs of the Kalyana Karnataka region were unanimous that their backward region should get representation in the cabinet.
Later, Gouda met the Chief Minister and requested that their region be given adequate representation in the cabinet, which is lacking development.
Talking to reporters, Gouda said, "We had given representations to all the MPs, MLAs and the chief minister. Today also we all had a meeting and later called on the Chief Minister requesting him to make any MLA from our region a minister."
He said any imbalance in cabinet expansion will cause trouble to the MLAs from Kalyana Karnataka region.
"If you make the defeated candidates ministers then include 120 people in the cabinet," an aggrieved Gouda taunted.
Renukacharya too echoed the same sentiments.
"If you give preference to the defeated candidates then what will happen to those who won the election? Where should the winners of election go? We emphasise upon giving preference to the winners."
On the other hand, the defectors who jumped the Congress and the JD(S) ship and helped form the BJP government too had a meeting in Bengaluru, said BJP sources.
They were unanimous that not only the 11 MLAs who won theelection be made ministers but also A H Vishwanath and M T BNagaraj who had unsuccessfully contested the assembly by- polls from Hunasuru and Hoskote on a BJP ticket.
Vishwanath, who was quite vocal on Sunday for dropping his name, was mellowed down on Monday after meeting Yediyurappa.
However, his insistence for getting a cabinet berth remained intact.
"I did not make any proposal before him and will not do it in future because he (Yediyurappa) knows what has to be done,"Vishwanath told reporters after meeting the chief minister.
When he was reminded of Yediyurappa's statement that therewere legal complications in making him a minister, Vishwanath said, "This government has legal experts and the advocate general. They will speak."
Amid speculations that Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli may not get a cabinet berth in the reshuffle, the defected MLAs led by Gokak BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, had a meeting to decide their future strategy, said party sources.
Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the chief minister, in the cabinet, which has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant.
The cabinet expansion exercise will be a delicate task for Yediyurappa as he has to ensure adequate representation for various castes and regions.
The ministry already has eight Lingayats, including Yediyurappa; three Vokkaligas; a Brahmin; three SCs, two OBCs and one ST.
Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in the cabinet expansion, alleging he is weak and his administration has collapsed.
Reacting to the cabinet expansion, former chief minister Siddaramaiah quipped, "A drama is taking place. Let it happen on February 6. Afterwards we will see what all happens."
Comments
Kirann....you mean to say whoever speaks against any religion to be beaten?
Does it apply to people like kalladka and a guy from pumpwell?
@ Kiran
Very Funny comment by brother Kiran....Brother As you said this cleric speaking against Hindus in the Masjid..Brother what about Prabhakar Bhat,Shakshi Maharaj,Thogadia,Muthaliq,Pumpwel,Sathyajeeth Surathkal,all are speaking Publicly against
what your saying by showing Elder women in photo # 5 ?
Karanataka government, now this is the right time for you to ban bajrangdal.....no one should be allowed to take law in their hands....if they got any issues with moulana, complain it to police...not unnecessary beating in the public...we are not living in jungle raj....
Kiran......that means we can beat anyone who speaks against any religion................we have a list of fanatics like Togadia...katiyar...kamalesh...etc
put them behind the bar for lifetime, goonda act should claim on them.
i dont think so that bajrangdal attacked, look at the property damaged,
very worst place in padil area, faizalnagara, veeranagar, nobody likes to purchase property there. worst people leaving there
Whatever these devils agent do .. They will never succeed.. The Zionist with the help of their masters doing hatred job since long time and they are not able to keep the muslims and Islam in the corner.. RSS & BD are jujubi who are following the zionist deceivers...
Muslims are not worried about this attacks. Fear yourself when Cheddis will kill you guys after all this just like Prashanth...
If U did not study ISLAM ... Dont take panga...its a Waste. and YOU are fools who bring their own destruction and becoming scape goat to the cheddi Gandhi killers...
BD members should help many Dalit research scholar instead of creating a menace in the society.
simply blame on bajrangdal, look at the property damaged by PFI people.
Is it not intolerance.
if not then what else is it.
Where is the media, which does not show it to whole India what has been happening, while blaming Aamir and Sharukh.
British rule was much better than the present name-sake independent India
Simply making non sense in the society.
resident of padil : i know this cleric always speaking against hindus in the masjid thats why he is beaten.
dont know why this people are fighting like this.
AB KI BAARRRR MADHI SARKAARR.....
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