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
ponaga flight da upadra. banaga customs da upadra. wa kiri kiri marayere.
Finaly took off at 9.35 and landed at Dammam Airport 11.10 PM (SST)
Todays flight from Mangalore to Dammam, 5.15 rescheduled for 6.15 now latest take off time 8.15 PM.
Station managers clarification is very good....
Technical faults can occur to aircraft anytime. The timely detection is very important and remedial works were carried out that resulted the safety of the passenger. However, these 737-800 Boeing Aircraft are old ones that needs replacement with new one. Mangalore-Dammam-Mangalore brings good revenue to the Air India, hence it is pertinent to replace the aircraft with new one.
Of course, there is a inconvenience to the passengers that is regretted. Safety is important rather than the inconvenience.
Worst Flight i have ever seen in my life...
I am one of the victim of this Long waiting, as it reported here it's not after the immigration process they found the technical error. In fact at the counter itself I have been informed about 2 hours delay as the flight arrival was delayed.
Still we can understand the technical error and I think nobody will complaint about this if it's prior informed, atleast they could make announcement so that all the passengers will come to know the happenings. But on that day no officials informed us about the delay and the screen was showing 8pm as departure timing even @9pm. Officials informed the situation to the passenger only after confrontation from few passengers.
However opposite to the claim here,food has been provided only after its been demanded by the passengers, else they would haven't made any efforts.
To conclude in one sentence \it's a pathetic service\"."
Why it frequently happens to Air India Only... ??
Such a major technical glitch was detected just minutes before take off? What would have happened if it was not detected? Y such carelessness?
Thank god AIE delayed the flight. Visa expiry is not a big issue. We should not endanger lives of over hundred passengers.
Add new comment