The vexed issue of Cabinet expansion continues to dog the BJP government even as Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa left Bengaluru on Sunday morning to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum. Hours before leaving, the Chief Minister said the Cabinet would be expanded within two days after his return from Davos.
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“A decision has been made to expand the Cabinet in a day or two after my return to Bengaluru,” Mr. Yediyurappa, who is leading the State team, including Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, told reporters. He is scheduled to return to Bengaluru on January 24.
The Chief Minister said he had held a discussion on Cabinet expansion with Union Home Minister and BJP national president Amit Shah. “I received positive response from Mr. Shah during the talks and the Cabinet will be expanded in two days after my return,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said the Cabinet expansion had been delayed a bit owing to lack of clarity and need for further discussion on the issue.
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“The Cabinet will be expanded after the Chief Minister’s return,” he said. He said the decision on the post of Deputy Chief Minister would be taken by the party’s central leadership and the Chief Minister.
On new entrants
In Mysuru, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K.S. Eshwarappa told reporters that the BJP would not have secured a majority in the Assembly had it not been for the new entrants, who quit the erstwhile coalition government and their respective parties and joined the BJP. “So, it is our duty to repay their debt,” he said.
When asked whether all the new entrants, including A.H. Vishwanath and N. Nagaraju (MTB) who lost the Assembly byelections, would be accommodated in the ministry, Mr. Eshwarappa said he was not aware about it. He said the party was duty-bound to keep the new entrants satisfied. “I am not saying that they should be made Ministers or Deputy Chief Ministers. But, they should be kept satisfied,” he said.
He said he was hopeful about the State having a full team of Ministers soon. Admitting that there was pressure to accommodate the new entrants in the ministry, Mr. Eshwarappa said a solution would be found for the prevailing confusion in the next two to three days and the Cabinet would be expanded soon thereafter.
He attributed “confusion” as the reason for the party failing to reach a majority in the Assembly elections in 2018. But the people voted in favour of a stable government under the BJP in the recent byelections, he maintained.
‘Delay not affecting development works’
Mr. Eshwarappa on Sunday sought to clarify that the delay in expanding the State Cabinet had not affected development works.
Despite the State seeing unprecedented floods, the government faced the situation and ensured that the affected people were provided relief. He accused the Congress of indulging in “anti-people” activities, besides pitting religions and castes against each other. He hit back at the Congress for criticising the BJP’s failure to have a full complement of Ministers even six months after forming the government. “Did the Congress fill all the 34 ministerial berths? They also did not do it till the end of the party government’s term,” Mr. Eshwarappa said.
Instead of criticising the BJP government for the delay in expanding the Ministry, the Congress should bother about having a president for its State and national units. “How many days has it been since Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned as president of the KPCC,” he asked.