Cabinet: BS Yediyurappa not to have his way?

Bengaluru: Three days after winning the vote of confidence in the state assembly, new Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is eager to expand his Cabinet by the week-end  but is yet to get the green signal from the BJP central leadership.

Sources in the CM’s secretariat told this newspaper that the top brass has told the CM to be in Delhi on August 5 or 6 to discuss cabinet expansion and come with a list of probables. The expansion is likely to happen only after the ongoing Lok Sabha session which will be wrapped up on August 7. If at all Yediyurappa gets the nod of the central leadership before this date, the expansion will happen on August 8 or 9, sources said. Only the CM was sworn in  Friday last after Governor Vajubhai Vala invited Yediyurappa to form the government after the collapse of the coalition government led by Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Yediyurappa during his visit to Delhi is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Party President Amit Shah and Party Working President J.P. Nadda. In fact he had planned to meet the top brass on Wednesday but was reportedly told to wait as senior leaders want to have a good look at the list before holding a discussion with the CM.

For the central leadership, it is no difficult task getting information on the state of affairs in the Karnataka BJP with  B.L. Santhosh,  national organization secretary, also from Karnataka.

Sources in the Yediyurappa camp maintained that cabinet expansion is not an easy task as there are many veterans and experienced leaders besides young  MLAs waiting to become ministers.  This time, Yediyurappa may not get a free hand to make his pick of ministers like he did in 2008 and it may not be a surprise if a few of his loyalists are left out from the ministry, sources added.