Hours after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced that he would expand the Cabinet on Thursday, lobbying for key portfolios picked up pace.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, who met the Chief Minister at his residence to discuss the issue of his follower Mahesh Kumathalli not being inducted into the Cabinet, reportedly placed demand for Water Resources Ministry, which was held by Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar in the erstwhile coalition government.
Mr. Jarkiholi’s rivalry with Mr. Shivakumar was one of the reasons that triggered rebellion, leading to the fall of that coalition government. Mr. Jarkiholi is also said to have demanded that he be allotted the same room in the Vidhana Soudha that Mr. Shivakumar held when he was a Minister.
Two Bengaluru MLAs now confirmed to make it to the Cabinet, B.A. (Byrathi) Basavaraj and S.T. Somashekhar, have expressed their inclination to be assigned Urban Development and Bengaluru Development departments, respectively. However, the two leaders said that while they preferred these portfolios, they would not demand them and would handle any portfolio the Chief Minister assigns to them.
K. Sudhakar, Chickballapur MLA, also met the Chief Minister at his residence on Sunday morning and requested for a “good portfolio”.
