BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will fly to New Delhi on Wednesday to get the BJP bosses’ approval for ministry expansion. The CM had earlier indicated that he was waiting for a word from central leaders to visit the national capital to discuss the rejig.
As per the itinerary by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Yediyurappa will take a special flight to New Delhi at 11.30 am, after chairing a cabinet meeting scheduled at 10.30 am.In the run-up to the RR Nagar and Sira assembly bypolls, the CM had said the decision on ministry expansion or reshuffle would be taken after discussions with the high command.
“If the CM is going for reshuffle, as he had indicated earlier, Wednesday’s cabinet meeting may be the last for some ministers,” sources said.
Currently, seven berths are vacant, and sources close to the CM do not rule out the possibility of some ministers being dropped to accommodate new faces.Leaders who helped the party form its government in 2019, as well as party loyalists, are lobbying for ministerial berths. Given the number of aspirants, expansion or reshuffle is likely to pose a major challenge for the CM.
Yediyurappa, however, is said to be keen on using it as an opportunity to placate all sections of the party.
Ahead of the CM’s visit to Delhi, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi rushed to the national capital to impress upon central leaders to induct newly elected MLCs and MLAs into the ministry, as promised when they had joined BJP.
While RR Nagar MLA Muniratna’s induction seems almost certain, MLCs M T B Nagaraj and R Shankar, too, are likely to make it. Nagaraj and Shankar were ministers in the JDS-Congress coalition government when they resigned to join the BJP. Several BJP leaders, including Umesh Katti and legislators from Hyderabad-Karnatak region, too, are hoping to make it into the cabinet. “Now, it all depends on the party high command,” sources added.
After consultations with party president J P Nadda and other leaders, the CM will return to Bengaluru on Wednesday night. Yediyurappa has to be in Bengaluru on Thursday morning for Bengaluru Tech Summit, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a virtual event.