BENGALURU: With Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa being admitted to hospital on Monday after testing positive for Covid-19, the much-awaited cabinet expansion is not going to happen any time soon, dashing the hopes of several BJP hopefuls, party sources said.
In June, four BJP MLAs were elected to the Council -- M T B Nagaraj, R Shankar, Sunil Vallyapure and Prathap Simha Nayak. Last month, five MLCs -- A H Vishwanath, Bharathi Shetty, Shantharam Budna Siddi, C P Yogeshwar and Talwar Sabanna -- were nominated to the Upper House.
There was a buzz that Yediyurappa was slated to go to New Delhi this week to discuss the cabinet expansion with the party high command. However, Yediyurappa will be unable to travel anywhere for several days.
Dy CM Laxman Savadi, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, and Minister for Women and Child Development Shashikala Jolle recently visited Delhi. Although they said they had gone to meet Union ministers, speculation is rife that they had gone to either ensure their posts remain with them, or to lobby for more.