In a Cabinet expansion in less than four days of the formation of his Council of Ministers, Karnataka Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Thursday inducted five more MLAs into his Cabinet.
The Cabinet expansion, however, is not expected to bring in much cheer to many BJP legislators who have been aspiring to get ministerial berths.
The Bellary brothers G. Janardhan Reddy and G. Karunakara Reddy, mining magnates, expectedly, were not inducted. They have, however, stepped up their claim and are keen that at least B. Sriramulu (their business associate and member of the Assembly) be inducted.
Gadkari in Bellary
It is believed that the BJP's central leadership has decided to take a call on their demand at a later date than turning down their request at present. Incidentally, party president Nitin Gadkari will be in Bellary on Friday to attend a private programme hosted by the Reddy brothers and Mr. Sriramulu.
No berths have been provided to some party loyalists, who have been elected successively to the Assembly.
Four of the five legislators who joined the Cabinet are relatively new entrants to the party. They are: Raju Gowda (also known as Narasimha Nayak), who represents the Surpur constituency; C.P. Yogeshwar (Channapatna); Balachandra Jharkiholi (Arabhavi, Belgaum); and Anand Asnotikar (Karwar).
Apart from Mr. Raju Gowda who joined the party ahead of the May 2008 Assembly elections, the other three joined the BJP as part of “operation lotus”— a programme to woo legislators of rival parties.
The fifth legislator to enter the Ministry, R.Varthur Prakash, represents Kolar. He is an Independent and one-time loyal follower of Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
On August 8, Mr. Sadananda Gowda inducted 21 Cabinet rank ministers, all of whom were in the Yeddyurappa Ministry.
Mr. Gowda, who came back from New Delhi late on Wednesday after reportedly being told to put the Cabinet expansion on hold, returned to New Delhi on Thursday, obviously to get the central leadership's clearance for induction of the five Ministers.
The Thursday expansion is expected to lead to further discontent in the ruling party, which has a strength of 161 legislators — 120 in the Legislative Assembly and 41 in the Legislative Council. Of them, only 34 can find accommodation in the Council of Ministers (including the Chief Minister) and the rest can only be accommodated in the Government boards, etc.
