'BJP high command not supporting Yediyurappa on cabinet expansion': Congress neta HK Patil

Senior Congress leader HK Patil on Tuesday said that the BJP high command is not providing any support to the BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government, which in turn is damaging the state."BJP high command is not providing any support to Yediyurappa. He has to expand his cabinet in such a way that it does not taint his stature. The delay in state cabinet expansion is causing much damage to the state and development works are happening at a slow pace," Patil said.

'BJP state govt working against the people'

Patil also accused the state government of not working in the people's interest and said, "The BJP-led state government is not working in the people's favour, it is working against the people." The Congress leader was addressing the media in Hulkoti in Gadag district on Tuesday.

Karnataka awaits cabinet expansion

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who returned from his five-day Davos trip on Friday, renewed the hopes of newly elected MLAs as he categorically said the much-delayed cabinet expansion will take place in the next two-three days. “I can say with 100 per cent confidence that Cabinet expansion will happen in the next three to four days,” he said, having kept the 11 disqualified legislators who won on BJP ticket on tenterhooks for a ministerial berth for over a month.

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While Yediyurappa is in favour of making all 11 turncoats as ministers to keep his promise, the central leadership is reportedly interested in inducting only 6 to 8 of them into the ministry while filling the remaining berths with party loyalists. As a result of a lack of consensus, the cabinet expansion in Karnataka has been pushed to January 29 or 30.

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Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34. The cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for Yediyurappa as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious legislators as promised and also make place for the old guard, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.

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He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet and also deal with the allocation of key portfolios. Also, disqualified legislator R Shankar, who was not given a ticket to contest by-polls but was promised ministerial post by Yediyurappa, openly expressing his ministerial aspirations has added to the Chief Minister's worry.

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(With agency inputs)