A Karnataka minister on Monday threatened to commit suicide if he was dropped from the State Cabinet, even as the Chief Minister faced problems with an MLA warning of resignation by 20 legislators.
“I don’t know what turn it will take if I am dropped...it may even take the form of suicide. Let the BJP hoist its flag on my dead body,” Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Gulihatti D. Shekar said here.
Mr. Shekar was one of the independents who supported the BJP government when it fell short of majority in May 2008.
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is now in Delhi seeking the nod of the BJP central leadership for the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle proposed this month.
According to BJP sources, Mr. Yeddyurappa is likely to drop three to four ministers and induct three new faces.
BJP MLA Belur Gopalakrishna said a group of 20 MLAs, under the leadership of Excise Minister M.P. Renukacharya, on Monday decided to submit their resignation en masse to the Governor H.R. Bhardwaj tomorrow. He said the MLAs would meet tomorrow to decide the future course of action after Mr. Renukacharya returns from abroad.
Mr. Gopalakrishna, who was in the forefront of the rebellion against Mr. Yeddyurappa last year, said Library Minister Shivanagouda Naik might be axed. “Red carpet has been laid out to outsiders and first-timers while injustice has been meted out to loyalists,” he rued.
He slammed state BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa for his remark that Mr. Gopalakrishna, who has been demanding a ministerial berth to the Idiga community, is free to remain in the party or go out. “It’s an insult to Idiga community and my constituency,” he said.
In a related development, MLA S.K. Bellubbi resigned from the chairmanship of a State-owned corporation saying he has been sounded to become a minister again. He was forced to quit earlier to accommodate Umesh Katti, who had crossed over to the BJP from the JD(S).
