BENGALURU: Several aspirants landed in New Delhi well before arrival of the top brass of state unit of Congress to discuss the expansion of the cabinet with party president Rahul Gandhi and to fix the regional imbalance in the ministry, with the delay in drawing up the list of new faces getting on the nerves of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday.
While the cabinet aspirants left Belagavi midway through the winter session of legislature to lobby with central leaders of Congress, Mr Kumaraswamy glowered on the sidelines of the session, saying “I am yet to receive a message from Delhi” when asked about his letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala about the swearing-in ceremony on December 22.
Sources in Congress said former CM Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwar, KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao and working president Eshwar Khandre arrived in Delhi this evening to meet party general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Mr Gandhi on Friday to pick six legislators for vacancies in the cabinet. They, however, are not speaking with a single voice vis-à-vis expansion of the ministry, as there is no unity on whether to seek approval for a reshuffle or press for status quo till next year's Lok Sabha polls.
While Dr Parameshwar was among those supporting status quo, Mr Siddaramaiah is not.
Already upset with rejection of his nominee S R Patil for the post of Chairman of the Legislative Council, the former CM is evidently keen to get more legislators from north Karnataka into the ministry and is therefore set to demand an expansion.
But Some central leaders are also keen to show the door to non-performing ministers and make room for induction of new faces, sources added.
Sources said the leaders would strive to appease voters of all communities ahead of Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and induct former ministers Mr R Ramalinga Reddy, Mr M. B. Patil, Mr K. H. Patil, Mr Tanveer Sait, and Mr M.T.B. Nagaraj, Mr B.C. Patil, Mr Tukaram or Mr B, Nagendra and Mrs Roopa Shashidhar to balance the caste equations.
