BENGALURU: After dilly-dallying for months, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has finally decided to expand his cabinet on June 12. The move is being seen as an effort to bolster the coalition in the aftermath of the Lok Sabha poll rout. While two independent MLAs are likely to be inducted, disgruntled Congress legislators will have to wait till the cabinet reshuffle expected in December.
Currently, three ministerial berths — two from JDS quota and one from Congress quota — are vacant. Sources said R Shankar, Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) MLA from Ranebennur, and H Nagesh, independent MLA from Mulbagal, are likely to be made ministers. While one each will be inducted from Congress and JDS quota, one more slot from JDS quota will still remain vacant.
JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda is said to be keen on giving representation to a legislator from the minority community and it is still not clear if MLC B M Farooq will be the choice.
On Saturday morning, Kumaraswamy met Governor Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan here and sought time for the swearing-in. “He has fixed 11.30 am on June 12 for swearing-in ceremony,” the CM tweeted later.
The coalition partners seem to have decided to induct independent MLAs into the ministry to thwart BJP’s plans to woo them.
Though the BJP has been claiming that they will not make any attempts to destabilise the government, the Congress-JDS combine is not taking any chances. BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly and was hoping to get support from independents.
However, the induction of two independent legislators will not end trouble for the coalition government. It will not be an easy task for the Congress leadership to placate its senior leaders who are upset over being left out of the ministry and have criticised the party leadership. Former minister Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, BC Patil are among those who have made their displeasure known.
Siddaramaiah had recently stated that Reddy will be inducted into the ministry and other Congress leaders had given similar assurance to BC Patil. Sources said on Saturday that BC Patil expressed displeasure and termed it as an insult to him and the Lingayat community.
Congress sources, however, are of the view that the party will be able to placate some leaders with appointments to boards and corporation and others will be convinced to wait till the reshuffle. According to them, inducting one or two Congress MLAs into the ministry now would have created more serious trouble.
For now, they seem to be keen on getting independents into the coalition fold. Shankar was a minister earlier and was dropped in December 2018 after he allegedly refused to consider Congress’ leaders demand to join the party, while Nagesh had refused to accept BWSSB chairman’s post offered to him.
They had identified with the BJP camp after they withdrew support to the government. Congress leader Siddaramaiah and CM Kumaraswamy had recently met them in the city.
Sources said new ministers will get Municipal Administration portfolio, which was with C S Shivalli, and other portfolios that are currently with the CM.