In a sudden political development, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to expand his Council of Ministry by inducting two-time MLA M. Krishnappa.
Mr. Krishnappa, who is running business in real estate and land development, is likely to be sworn in as the Minister on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi (Monday) at Raj Bhavan, sources in the Chief Minister’s office told The Hindu .
Sources also indicated that Mr. Siddaramaiah has proposed to promote Vinay R. Kulkarni and A Manju, both are ministers of State rank, as the Cabinet rank Ministers.
Mr. Krishnappa, a science graduate (B.Sc) from Bangalore University, failed to make it to the Ministry during last Cabinet reshuffle, which occurred on June 19, 2016, where 13 ministers were inducted in the three-year-old Siddaramaiah government.
For denying a ministerial berth, supporters of the MLA stormed into Vijayanagar metro station and created a ruckus. Ruling party councillors of Vijayanagar and Govindrajnagar wards and members of congress block committee threatened to resign if the Chief Minister did not give ministerial berth to Mr. Krishnappa.
Mr. Krishanppa, who also served as the MLC during 2000-06, belongs to the Vokkaliga community. Currently there are four Ministers belonging to the dominant community —D. K. Shivakumar, T. B. Jayachandra, Krishna Byre Gowda and A Manju.
Mr. Krishnappa will be replacing M H Ambarish, who was dropped during the last Cabinet reshuffle. Sources said Mr. Krishnappa is likely to get the Housing portfolio, which is presently with the Chief Minister.
Sources in the party said that during the Chief Minister’s visit to New Delhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had directed Mr Siddaramaiah to induct Mr. Krishnappa into the ministry.
Mr. Krishnappa’s son Priyakrishna is also MLA and he is representing neighbouring Govindarajanagar constituency in Bengaluru City.
There are two vacancies in the 34-member Council of Ministry. The vacancies occurred after K J George resigned after a court in Madikeri ordered Karnataka Police to file an FIR against him in connection with the suicide of Deputy SP MK Ganapathy. With the induction of Mr. Krishnappa, there would be just one vacancy.
