BENGALURU: Cabinet expansion for the Congress-JD(S) coalition government has been continuously postponed since September. A fresh deadline has been set for the cabinet expansion with Karnataka Pradesh Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao stating that new ministers will be included in the cabinet by the end of this month.
Speaking to media during Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary celebrations on Wednesday, Dinesh said that cabinet expansion will take place as soon as Congress leaders, who are on constituency tour, return to Bengaluru.
“Cabinet will be expanded by the end of this month. Our leaders are on constituency tour. H D Deve Gowda is yet to return to Bengaluru. We will hold discussions after everybody returns,” Dinesh said. Six berths for the Congress and two berths - one after BSP’s N Mahesh resigned - from the JD(S)’ kitty has remained vacant for months with both the parties reluctant to include new faces in the cabinet.
While the coordination committee of the coalition government had decided to expand the cabinet in September, by-elections to Karnataka council, bypolls to two assembly seats and three parliamentary seats were cited as reasons to postpone expansion.
Post its terrific performance in Ballari bypolls, Congress is under the compulsion to induct one of its six MLAs from the district into the cabinet. Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah had asked all MLAs to compete with each other and get the maximum number of votes to be inducted into the party. The Congress is also forced to woo disappointed senior leaders like M B Patil, H K Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Roshan Baig and Satish Jarkiholi who are not part of the current cabinet.