Contrary to the statement made by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the Congress high command had not asked him to expand his Council of Ministers yet, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office here is abuzz with reports that All India Congress Committee General Secretary in-charge of party affairs in the State Digvijay Singh had asked him to go ahead and induct the two senior MLAs, D.K. Shivakumar and R. Roshan Baig, into his Cabinet.
Party sources said that Mr. Digvijay Singh, who recently held discussions with Mr. Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G. Parameshwara in New Delhi, had asked the former to expand his Ministry.
The two leaders had also met party vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the national capital.
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However, according to the party sources, there has been no effort yet on the part of the Chief Minister to induct Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Baig into the Cabinet.
Parameshwara’s stand
Earlier, the KPCC president, who called on the former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Saturday, had told presspersons that Mr. Shivakumar was a senior leader and that he (Dr. Parameshwara) would be happy if he (Mr. Shivakumar) was inducted into the Cabinet. On the chances of his becoming Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Parameshwara had said that it would be party president Sonia Gandhi’s decision.
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But sources close to Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the Chief Minister had sounded the high command about the difficulties that the party may have to face if the former Ministers were inducted into the Cabinet. While the party is eager to muster the support and utilise the organisational skills of these two leaders to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Siddaramaiah is not inclined to accept this line of thought, the sources said.
Avoiding risk
The argument put forth by those close to Mr. Siddaramaiah is that the Chief Minister had just been relieved of the burden of defending Minister of State Santosh Lad, whose partnership company is facing charges and who has since resigned, in the Belgaum session and that there was no meaning in allowing another controversy to crop up by inducting Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Baig into the Ministry.
However, the sources in the government scotched all rumours of a Cabinet expansion at least till the end of the Belgaum session.