BENGALURU: The expansion of the Karnataka cabinet is turning out to be a whole new ball game with the Congress high command leaving the state leaders guessing.
AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal kept the suspense up, saying the list of those who have made it to the ministry would be known only at the time of swearing-in, likely on Monday evening.
As former CM Siddaramaiah, CM DK Shivakumar and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge have put forth their list, insisting that at least five MLAs of their choice must be made ministers, the cabinet expansion exercise will likely trigger dissidence if their aspirations are not met, party insiders said.
It is said that Siddaramaiah was frustrated with the way he was made to wait for three to four days in Delhi and not given time to explain his choice.
Shivakumar has proposed that his cabinet should have new faces and two more additional DCM posts, while Kharge wants his Kalyana-Karnataka region adequately represented.
On Thursday evening, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi held talks with Shivakumar, Siddaramiah and KPCC president BK Hariprasad, but except receiving their proposals, he did not commit himself, sources said. Rahul held talks separately with Kharge and general secretaries Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala to finalise the list, another source said.
But Siddaramaiah is said to be upset with Surjewala and Kharge gaining an upper hand.
Even as there is ambiguity over 5-6 berths, consensus has emerged over the remaining vacancies and also the Assembly Speaker’s post, which will likely go to former minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi, who is Surjewala’s pick, a source said.
The CM and AICC general secretaries had also promised cabinet berths to senior MLAs for contributing to the party’s victory in the 2023 Assembly polls and that too needs to be fulfilled, sources added. There is also ambiguity over accommodating those who helped the party during its distress years as Rahul is focusing on winning the 2028 Assembly polls and 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
He has got a survey done and wants MLAs who have a sway over voters to be in the cabinet, a source said.