BENGALURU: An expectant Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai rushed to New Delhi on Friday. The purpose of his visit is three-fold -- to get the names cleared for the MLC and Rajya Sabha polls and for the proposed cabinet expansion. But sources said Bommai may not get the central leaders’ approval for a cabinet expansion, even though former chief minister BS Yediyurappa recently said the exercise would happen soon and party national general secretary BL Santhosh hinted that new faces would be inducted. Bommai too had said that he was seeking the central nod for the cabinet rejig. But the cabinet expansion may have to wait for some more time. Some aspirants, like Ramesh Jarkiholi, are already in Delhi, but his inclusion in the cabinet is extremely unlikely, said sources.
On Friday, Bommai, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and other senior leaders in Delhi held a meeting to finalise the names of party candidates for the Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha elections. The first sign that the green signal for the cabinet expansion may not come was that BJP national president JP Nadda was away from Delhi on Friday. Bommai will seek to meet Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday and may push for the cabinet expansion. But he may not get the nod, the sources said. He had met Shah during the latter’s visit to Karnataka recently and had raised the issue then too.
Party insiders pointed out that there is tremendous pressure on Bommai from within the state unit to reshuffle the ministry, even as the list of aspirants is growing. The aspirants are desperate as this could be the last expansion before the state goes to polls in 10 months.
Among those who are likely to make it to the final list of candidates for MLC polls are Arun Shahpur, Hanmanth R Nirani and Ravi Shankar. The party is also expected to announce the candidature of former Council Chairman Basavraj Horatti, who joined BJP from JDS recently. While these names are from the graduates and teachers constituencies, the BJP central leadership is deliberating on the names for the seven Council seats, for which elections will be held on June 3. There has been one round of deliberation and the core committee has decided the names, but will central leaders propose a new list for the Council poll or accept the names proposed by state leaders is the question.
Among those who are likely to figure in the MP list are Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former police officer KC Ramurthy, whose terms are ending. Sources said BJP, which has 120 MLAs, is interested in getting a third candidate elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of JDS, as they need 46 votes per seat and they may not have the required numbers for the third seat on their own for the RS polls scheduled for June 10.