Cabinet expansion likely before winter session in Belagavi

CM is expected to call on Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi

The ruling coalition of the Congress and JD(S) are likely to, at long last, embark on a Cabinet expansion before the commencement of the State legislature session in Belagavi, which is expected to begin from December 10.

Speaking to reporters in Belagavi on Saturday, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara said the Cabinet of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government would be expanded by November-end.

With senior leaders and legislators mounting pressure on the Congress top brass, the Cabinet expansion, which was postponed citing elections to urban local bodies and bypolls to three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies, is expected to take place soon.

Congress leaders and MLAs such as Ramalinga Reddy, M.B. Patil, Tanveer Sait, Roshan Baig, M.T.B. Nagaraj, B.C. Patil, H.K. Patil, and six legislators from Ballari, who campaigned for the party’s victory in the byelections to the Lok Sabha, are aspirants for ministerial berths in the coalition government.

Sources in the Congress said that the ruling dispensation, jubilant after the 4-1 victory in the recent byelections, has shown interest in filling six Cabinet berths in the Congress quota and two in the JD(S) quota. KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the issue is likely to be discussed at the coordinaton committee meeting to be convened soon.

Mr. M.B. Patil called on AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal on Saturday. When asked about his chances, he said “I don’t know. You better ask party high command and the KPCC president.”

Meeting with Rahul

Meanwhile, Mr. Kumaraswamy is expected to call on Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to hold talks on filling of Cabinet vacancies and forming an alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The JD(S) has two vacancies to fill. A new vacancy arose following the resignation of N. Mahesh, lone Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, from the Kumaraswamy ministry. Sources in the State Secretariat said that pro-tem chairman of Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti is likely to be inducted into the Cabinet.