Trying to flex his muscles after the BJP’s victory in the bypolls to two Assembly seats, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Tuesday said he was planning to take up Cabinet expansion/reshuffle on a big scale.
“Some legislators will have to be taken into the Ministry, while some Ministers will have to be dropped. I am thinking on a big scale,” he told presspersons when asked whether all the Ministers would retain their berths. “However, whether it will be an expansion or reshuffle will be known only after discussions with the party high command.”
He also said he would have discussions over phone with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president J.P. Nadda on Wednesday or Thursday to seek permission to visit Delhi and hold consultations on the matter of Cabinet expansion. “Soon after consulting them in Delhi, I will take up the exercise,” he said. Interestingly, Munirathna, who emerged victorious from R.R. Nagar Assembly constituency as BJP candidate on Tuesday, indicated that he has his eyes set on a ministerial portfolio by remarking that he was “ready to handle any portfolio”.
The Chief Minister also categorically ruled out the possibility of his son and BJP State vice-president B.Y. Vijayendra contesting in the proposed bypolls to the Assembly. “He has already clarified, and I too want to make it clear that my son will not contest. However, if the national leaders desire, we may think of his candidature in the next general elections,” he said.
