Berths: PM Modi, Amit Shah busy with J’khand poll, CM puts off Delhi visit

Bengaluru: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who was expected to go to Delhi on Thursday to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah to get their approval for his Cabinet expansion, has put off his visit by a week.

The Chief Minister, who is reportedly keen on accommodating the 12 disqualified MLAs, who were re-elected in the recent bypolls and also a couple of the former MLAs, who lost, in his Cabinet, told reporters here that he had no choice in the matter as Mr Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party working president J.P. Nadda were busy with the Jharkhand Assembly elections.

“I have therefore decided go to Delhi next week to discuss the Cabinet expansion,” he added. Should the Chief Minister receive the green signal from the national leadership, the expansion could still take place after Makara Sankramana, as the party may wait for an auspicious month for the induction of new ministers in the Yediyurappa government, according to sources.

Meanwhile, those aspiring to become ministers thronged Mr Yediyurappa’s home on Thursday, urging him to consider their names in the second round of Cabinet expansion.

Many did not seem to care about the party's argument that it needed to induct the newly elected MLAs as a gesture of gratitude for their “sacrifice” of resigning from the assembly to bring down the Kumaraswamy government in July and pave the way for the Yediyurappa government in the state.

Among those seeking a berth in the Cabinet are Hukkeri BJP MLA Umesh Katti and Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali. The Chief Minister had met the newly elected MLAs on Wednesday and promised them that they would be made ministers. They, in turn, had insisted that the two disqualified MLAs who lost should also find a place in the Cabinet even if it meant nominating them to the legislative council first.