BANGALORE: Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa is likely to be inducted into the Cabinet at the next reshuffle later this month. The fate of KPCC president G Parameshwara, who is not willing to take up anything less than a Deputy Chief Minister’s post, will be decided by the party brass.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, though willing to induct Parameshwara into the Cabinet, is not keen on making him a Deputy CM, fearing that it could create a second power centre in the government.
Besides Thimmappa, names of Vinay Kulkarni (Dharwad and a Panchamasali Lingayat), H Y Meti (Bagalkot, a Kuruba) or H M Revanna (MLC and Kuruba) and A Manju (Arkalgud, a Vokkaliga) are also being considered.
It is, however, not clear how many ministers are likely to be dropped during the reshuffle.
A day after the Speaker’s outburst just two days before the byelections to the three Assembly seats (August 21), the CM had sent Law Minister T B Jayachandra to defuse the crisis and even assured Thimmappa of a Cabinet berth.
Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha, is also understood to have played a role in the decision to get Thimmappa into the Cabinet by advising the CM to use his experience in administrative and legislative matters.
Thimmappa was always a reluctant Speaker and wanted to be a minister. He was persuaded by the CM to take up the job.
“If given an opportunity, I will rather continue as a legislator,” the veteran Congressman told Express, hinting that he was not keen to continue in the Chair. Sources said that Thimmappa had even threatened to resign after the recently-concluded legislative session in July. He, however, denied it.
Sources in the Congress and the government said Siddaramaiah is likely to reshuffle the Cabinet after the process of byelections to the three Assembly seats ends on Monday, for which voting was held on August 21. The counting of votes is on Monday.
Siddaramaiah is under pressure to fill the four vacant slots in the Cabinet, besides dropping a few “ailing and ineffective”, ministers. On Thursday, senior legislator Malikayya Guttedar had asked the CM to induct “people with good health into the Cabinet’’.
Some ministerial aspirants are planning to visit Delhi on Wednesday, a day after the scheduled Congress coordination committee meeting in Bangalore on Tuesday to step up pressure on the CM and the high command.