V. Srinivas Prasad, MP for Chamarajanagar, does not foresee former Minister A.H. Vishwanath, who lost the Assembly bypolls from Hunsur recently, getting a ministerial berth.
Citing the Supreme Court ruling on the petition filed by the disqualified MLAs, Mr. Prasad said Mr. Vishwanath could not be accommodated in the Cabinet as he lost in the byelections. Speaking to reporters in Kollegal on Sunday, Mr. Prasad said the apex court had said that disqualified MLAs could become Ministers if they win the byelections. “Vishwanath cannot become a Minister as he lost,” Mr. Prasad said. He also said Chief Minister B.S. Yeddiyurappa would expand his Ministry after January 15, and later, appointments would be made to boards and corporations.
Whoever contested the byelections as BJP candidates and won would be made Ministers, Mr. Prasad said, claiming that Mr. Yeddiyurappa had already made a commitment to that effect.
Mr. Vishwanath and Mr. Prasad share a close rapport. Recently, Mr. Vishwanath said that he had joined the BJP at the behest of Mr. Prasad and that he would not have taken such a step had anybody else prodded him towards it.
