Dissidence among ministerial aspirants who failed to make the cut has refused to die down.
Chief Minister’s political secretary M.P. Renukacharya, who had said that he would host a meeting of disgruntled MLAs on Tuesday, instead flew to Delhi and met Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi to discuss the “current political situation”. “Chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa called me when I was in the meeting. I have a lot of respect for him and will not speak ill of him. Our only contention is that he provided ministerial berths to those who lost the polls, while several of us were denied a chance,” he said. He had met BJP national general secretary in charge of Karnataka Arun Singh over the issue.
Meanwhile, senior MLAs, Shivanagouda Nayak and G.H. Thippareddy, asserted their aspirations and their dissatisfaction at the recent Cabinet expansion. “There are several seniors like us who have not got a chance at administration. Till now, the BJP has come to power twice in the State and the same persons are being made Ministers,” Mr. Thippareddy said.. “We demand that all those who have been Ministers for the past 20 months must be deputed for organisation work and a chance must be given to others as per seniority. Only this can help improve the image of the government and win the 2023 Assembly elections,” Mr. Nayak said. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with two disgruntled MLAs, Arvind Bellad and H. Nagesh, on the directions of the Chief Minister, sources in the party said.
Meanwhile, when asked about disgruntled BJP MLA Renukacharya visiting party leaders in Delhi, Mr. Yediyurappa told reporters in Kundapur that he had already spoken to him and would meet him to sort out the differences.
Portfolio allocation in two days: CM
Meanwhile, Mr. Yediyurappa told media persons in Kundapur that he would allocate portfolios to newly inducted Ministers in the next two days.
He also said that he would discuss the matter with senior Ministers on Wednesday before allocation of portfolios, which is being interpreted as a possible reshuffle of portfolios among senior Ministers.
The Chief Minister said that he will present the State Budget for 2021-22 in the first week of March. He will assess the current financial condition till then to make appropriate allocation to various sectors in the next Budget.
