Armed with a clearance from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa seems to have made up his mind on the list of 13 leaders to be inducted into his Cabinet. The development has triggered dissatisfaction and resulted in intense lobbying — from both long-time members of the BJP and those who joined the party recently and won the bypolls in December 2019 — making Cabinet expansion “a complicated exercise” again.
The announcement on Sunday morning that the expansion would happen on Thursday has given hope to aspirants that there may be room for changes, if they lobbied hard.
Aravind Limbavali
The Chief Minister has reportedly finalised the names of senior MLAs Umesh Katti and Aravind Limbavali, and C.P. Yogeshwar, who lost the Assembly election, for induction. While the choice of Mr. Yogeshwar has turned most controversial, the choice of the other two has also been disputed since then.
“We are forced to make 10 MLAs from among the new entrants to the party as Ministers, thereby reducing the opportunity for loyal BJP workers. On the top of it, candidates who lost elections are also being made Ministers, angering MLAs,” a senior Minister said.
Mr. Yogeshwar played a key role in toppling the erstwhile Congress–JD(S) coalition government, and he has recently reported to have become close to the RSS. “He spearheaded the recent RSS campaign on Kapalabetta and brought [sangh strongman] Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat to Kanakapura,” a senior BJP leader said, and added that party was keen on a Vokkaliga face in Ramanagaram district to take on H.D. Kumaraswamy and D.K. Shivakumar.
A section of BJP MLAs aspiring to become Ministers, have raked up the issue of a CD allegedly showing Mr. Limbavali in a compromising position, to scuttle his chances. Sources close to Mr. Limbavali, however, said forensic tests had debunked the veracity of the visuals in the CD and termed the issue a systematic campaign against him.
Sub-sect lobby
Murugesh Nirani has reportedly been lobbying in the party, arguing for representation to Panchamasalis, the largest sub-sect among Lingayats. He has argued that Banajiga, a smaller but influential sub-sect, was being given over-representation. Mr. Katti is a Banajiga, and so are Mr. Yediyurappa and senior Ministers Jagadish Shettar and V. Somanna.
A long list of ministerial aspirants in the BJP has emerged. Supporters of Chitradurga MLA G.H. Thippa Reddy protested outside the BJP office in the district demanding that he be made a Minister. Nehru Olekar, S.A. Ramdas, S. Angara, M.P. Kumaraswamy, Raju Gowda, Gulihatti Shekar, and Sunil Kumar are among the others lobbying hard to secure a Cabinet berth, sources said. A few of these aspirants reportedly held a meeting and decided to oppose the choice of the Chief Minister, sources said.
Minutes after the Chief Minister said he would be inducting only 10 of the 11 MLAs who won in the bypolls, Mahesh Kumathalli, Athani MLA and a close associate of Ramesh Jarkiholi, said he was reportedly not being inducted and added that he was “deeply hurt”.
Reminding the Chief Minister that he had publicly assured him twice of being made a Minister, Mr. Kumathalli said, “I sacrificed my MLA post trusting Mr. Yediyurappa. Now he is asking me to sacrifice again. I am ready to do whatever job he assigns me, including sweeping the floor of the BJP office.” He demanded that the Chief Minister at least make A.H. Vishwanath, a Minister instead of him.
Later in the day, Mr. Jarikholi met Mr. Yediyurappa. The Chief Minister is said to have tasked him with convincing Mr. Kumathalli. Mr. Jarkiholi reportedly said it was “tough” and that not making Mr. Kumathalli a Minister was unfair.
