Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is keen on expanding his Cabinet on January 29 and is awaiting the green signal from the BJP central leadership after having communicated it to them, sources close to him said. If no clearance comes through, however, Cabinet expansion may be taken up after the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February 8, sources said.
B.L. Santhosh, national general secretary (Organisation) of the BJP, met the Chief Minister on Saturday here and they deliberated on the issue. Mr. Yediyurappa reportedly communicated the names of persons he wants to induct into the Cabinet and those he wants to drop and also expressed his wish to expand his ministry on January 29, sources close to him claimed.
The Chief Minister reportedly conveyed to the party leadership that he was keen on inducting at least eight MLAs who had won the Assembly bypolls and four from the party cadre. He also reportedly sought clearance to drop two Ministers, taking the total vacant berths to six.
Other sources in the party, however, claimed that there was still confusion on the list of inclusions and exclusions from the Cabinet, which was delaying the exercise. This comes days after Mr. Yediyurappa met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on January 18 when he was in the State.
The Chief Minister is feeling hemmed in from all sides as pressure from the newly elected MLAs, whom he had promised to make Ministers within 24 hours of their victory in the December 5 bypoll, is only increasing and the party central leadership has not given its nod for the expansion exercise. “I hope the high command clears the decks for the exercise soon, otherwise the confusion will continue, which may eventually end up destabilising the government,” said a Minister close to the Chief Minister.
A party strategist, however, said since J.P. Nadda took over as the BJP national president recently, it was unlikely that Mr. Yediyurappa would be allowed to expand his Cabinet without having met him. “It will send out a wrong message about the new party chief if he is bypassed,” the strategist said, and added that the expansion was likely to happen only after the Delhi Assembly polls.
