BENGALURU: Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai indicated on Thursday that cabinet expansion might take some time. He is set to meet the BJP brass in the national capital, but the cabinet issue may not feature in the talks.
“I am going to Delhi tomorrow morning (Friday), and I will meet PM Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, and BJP national president JP Nadda. The visit will be restricted to greet them and take their blessings,” Bommai said after meeting his predecessor, BS Yediyurappa, at the latter’s residence.
Bommai said that he would visit Delhi again after two or three days to discuss cabinet expansion. His statement comes amid hectic lobbying by ministerial aspirants, who are making a beeline to Yediyurappa’s house. BJP members R Ashoka, CP Yogeeshwara and Aravind Bellad, among others, have camped in Delhi.
In Hubballi, the chief minister said that it would take at least two rounds of meetings with the BJP central leadership to finalise the names for his council of ministers. Yediyurappa also faced a similar predicament when he took over as the chief minister in 2019, and it took him nearly a month to expand his cabinet. Yediyurappa said that he was not going to interfere in the selection of cabinet members.
Bommai said that Modi spoke to him over the phone on Wednesday, wished him all the best and expressed hopes of good administration. Senior BJP member Jagadish Shettar, meanwhile, reiterated that he would not join the cabinet as his conscience didn’t permit it.
