Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jan 12: The interests of the 'loyal' BJP leaders are now in direct confrontation with the promise made by chief minister, Yediyurappa, to include the legislators who got through the bypoll litmus test in the ministry. Therefore in spite if the efforts of Yediyurappa, ministry expansion exercise is getting postponed each time. It is now being said that the expansion will not happen till the assembly election at Delhi concludes.
State chief minister, B S Yediyurappa, was to fly to New Delhi to hold consultation with union home minister and BJP national president, Amit Shah, on Sunday. Yediyurappa said he will go to New Delhi only after Shah sets aside time for discussions with him. He also stated that if the meeting on Sunday does not happen, he will hold discussions with Shah during his visit to Karnataka on January 17 and 18 to take part in the pro-Citizenship Ammendment Act (CAA) programme and finalize the arrangements.
After the bypoll result was announced, Yediyurappa was feeling reinvigorated. There was expectation that his plan for ministry expansion would be executed but this did not happen. There is an increasing feeling within the party that if all the 11 disqualified legislators who won in the election are made ministers, the 'original" BJP leaders will feel bad. Longtime BJP loyalists have conveyed this information to Amit Shah with a request to strike equilibrium by sharing ministries between the loyalists and the newcomers. Therefore Shah is believed to have asked the chief minister to wait.
The BJP national leadership is in favour of giving six ministries to the newly elected MLAs and two to BJP loyalists but Yediyurappa is determined to make all the new MLAs ministers. The only option before him perhaps is to keep Shrimant Patil and Mahesh Kumathalli out when expanding the ministry. Keeping this in mind, Yediyurappa is insisting that at least nine out of the 11 legislators should be made ministers.
Amit Shah is arriving here on the night of January 17 to take part in the pro-CAA programme being held next day at Hubballi. He might hold preliminary discussions about the ministry but final clearance will be given only after talks are held at Delhi, sources aded. The fact hat the leaders have no clear idea about the ministry expansion was revealed when deputy chief minister, Govind Karjol, said at Yadagiri on Friday night that all the winning legislators cannot be made ministers. On the other hand, minister, C T Ravi, said at Hampi that the ministry expansion might happen after Delhi election.