BENGALURU: As pressure mounts to induct BJP leaders KS Eshwarappa, Ramesh Jarkiholi and several other aspirants into the cabinet, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is cutting short his attendance at the ongoing Belagavi winter session and heading to New Delhi on Monday.
He will meet party leaders, including BJP National President J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Bommai will discuss various issues, including giving reservations to Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes as the state government has proposed increasing reservations for SCs to 17 per cent from 15 per cent and STs to 7 per cent from 3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Lingayat seers have stepped up their protests demanding reservations for their community. There is a demand from Vokkaliga leaders, too, to include their community under the reservation ambit. “The CM will discuss all these issues with the party leaders. Giving reservation will help the party ahead of the Assembly elections next year,” said a party leader on the condition of anonymity.
Bommai will also likely discuss cabinet expansion as both former ministers Eshwarappa and Jarkiholi are demanding that they be inducted back into the cabinet. They had even given the ongoing session a miss. Though there is speculation that the cabinet expansion might happen before the Sankranthi festival, party leaders are not keen on this as this might cause an adverse impact on them.
However, a senior minister on the condition of anonymity said the cabinet expansion will not happen. “The CM is not going to discuss this as party leaders are clear of not inducting anyone at this juncture. There are other issues, including the Karnataka-Maharashtra row, and reservation demands, which the CM wants clarity on before passing it in the house,” he said.