BENGALURU: With Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Monday, all eyes will be on the BJP central leadership. There is much speculation over whether the four vacant cabinet berths in the statewill be filled or a reshuffle effected by
dropping some non-performing ministers and accommodating some ministerial aspirants.
With the BJP central leaders busy with electioneering in five states, the outcome of the Chief Minister’s visit remains to be seen. The Bommai Cabinet will meet on Wednesday and there isexpectation that an expansion may take place sometime soon.
Vijayapura City MLA and former Union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal had recently hinted at major changes in the cabinet, claiming that the B S Yediyurappa era in the state was over and that there is a need for a second-rung leadership to be nurtured in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, former Water Resources Minister and MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi’s close aides and supporters are jubilant after the police filed a B-report in an alleged rape case, and are seeking for his reinduction and claiming that he was a victim of a ‘criminal conspiracy’.
However, his detractors argue that merely filing of a B-report by the police is not conclusive proof and that he cannot be reinstated so easily. They pointed out that several B-reports are not accepted by the courts, and considering that the individual in question is a former minister, they felt that the court verdict should be awaited.