BENGALURU: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, left for New Delhi on Thursday evening amid speculation that he doctored the list given by central leaders of BJP in order to accommodate some of his die-hard supporters in the cabinet at the eleventh hour.
Though he told the media that portfolios would be announced on his return from Delhi after due consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president and home minister Amit Shah, sources in the party said top leaders are upset and therefore appointed Mr Nalin Kumar Kateel as state unit president hours after the oath-taking ceremony on Tuesday. Besides, Mr Yediyurappa is under tremendous pressure from senior ministers who are demanding plum portfolios on one hand, senior leaders who did not make it to the cabinet on the other, and 17 rebels of Congress and JD (S), now contesting their disqualification in the Supreme Court, but helped the BJP form the new government.
Sources in Mr Yediyurappa's camp, however, spiked speculation about alterations of the list of ministers, and insisted that their leader will secure the go-ahead for allocation of portfolios during his meetings with Mr Shah and working president, Jagat Prakash Nadda, on Friday. Besides, appointment of chairpersons for state-owned boards and corporations, too, will be approved during these meetings, sources added.
