BENGALURU: A delegation of senior Congress MLAs camping in New Delhi for the last five days seeking ministerial posts when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reshuffles his cabinet, claims that they have accomplished their mission. This has come as a shot in the arm for the Siddaramaiah camp, who are keen on a rejig of the cabinet so that their leader can continue as CM for the full term of the present Congress government.
But Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and his camp are likely to exert pressure on the Congress high command to settle the leadership issue first and then decide on the potential cabinet reshuffle.
After meeting AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday, the MLAs, who have won more than three times, met AICC General Secretary and party Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday and exuded confidence that the high command will give its nod for the cabinet reshuffle after the results to the five state assemblies and by-elections to Davanagere South and Bagalkot are declared on May 4.
A team of 14 MLAs led by Chief Whip in the Assembly Ashok M Pattan, and former minister TB Jayachandra met Surjewala and presented a memorandum. They claimed to have reminded Surjewala of the high command’s assurance in 2023 when the party came to power that there would be changes after 2.5 years.
“Surjewala told us that even the CM had asked the high command to wait for 2-3 months after the government completed its halfway mark... even Rahul Gandhi said the same, which was why there is a slight delay,” Pattan, also an aide of Siddaramaiah, told reporters.
“Surejwala has had information on the performance of the incumbent ministers in the cabinet. He promised that there will be a reshuffle at the earliest, assuring us that justice will be delivered,” he added.
According to informed sources, Kharge responded positively to a reshuffle but expressed his unhappiness over the functioning of Siddaramaiah during his second term as CM.
The MLAs also plan to meet AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal on Thursday night before wrapping up their five-day Delhi trip. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, they visited Ayodhya and sought the blessings of Lord Ram. Around 30 MLAs had left for Delhi on April 12, but some of them returned to the state on April 13 to take part in Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on April 14.