BENGALURU: With Dharmendra Pradhan resigning as the Union Education Minister and the NEET protests coming to an end in New Delhi, all the decks are cleared for the expansion of the DK Shivakumar cabinet.
The Congress high command has summoned Karnataka party leaders, including Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, for talks in New Delhi at 6pm on Monday If all goes well, the swearing-in of 20 new ministers will take place either on Tuesday or Wednesday, an informed source told The New Sunday Express.
AICC general secretary (organisation), KC Venugopal, had informed in Bengaluru on Saturday that the cabinet expansion may take place any moment. The high command can no longer delay the expansion as the monsoon session of the joint legislature will be held in the first week of August.
Shivakumar, along with his predecessor Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief BK Hariprasad, are leaving for the national capital. Already, the state leaders have held talks with AICC general secretaries
KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala and finalised the list of MLAs to be sworn in as ministers, for which Rahul has to give his nod. There may be some changes as Rahul has insisted that new faces be inducted into the cabinet.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will also have his say, sources added.
Meanwhile, ministerial aspirants resumed their lobbying, with some of them meeting Siddaramaiah on Saturday. They are once again expected to go to Delhi.
Meanwhile, there was a buzz over creating additional Deputy CM posts in order to give representation to various communities such as backward classes, STs and Lingayats. Shivakumar has been pushing this strategy as it would help the party’s organisation in wooing the communities for future polls, sources added.
Apart from Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi and Large Scale Industries Minister MB Patil, Hariprasad is also a likely contender for the Deputy CM post.
“Like Shivakumar, who held both state Congress chief and Deputy CM posts, Hariprasad would be made Deputy Chief Minister,” said a legislator who is close to Hariprasad.
The Congress high command, which is likely to strike a balance with regard to the region, caste and gender equation, has decided to induct at least two women legislators as ministers.