'K'taka Cabinet to be expanded tomorrow,' says Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: The expansion of the Karnataka cabinet will take place on Tuesday and 13-14 ministers are likely to be inducted, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Monday.

"The cabinet expansion will take place between 10:30 and 11:30 am tomorrow. I have already written a letter to the Governor in this regard. I have asked Chief Secretary to make all arrangements," he said.

Speaking to reporters here, Yediyurappa said after the expansion, a cabinet meeting will be held. Having run the government with a "one-man cabinet" for over 20 days, Yediyurappa on Saturday got a go-ahead from BJP national president Amit Shah to undertake the exercise on August 20.

Yediyurappa, who took oath as chief minister on July 26 and proved his government's majority on the floor of the Assembly on July 29, is yet to induct any minister into his cabinet. The Chief Minister and the state leadership is expected to get clear instructions from the high command about those to be inducted into the Ministry, by Monday afternoon.

"By Monday afternoon we will get a clear instruction on who all to be inducted, I have held discussions with Amit Shah and other leaders. We will get to know by the afternoon," Yediyurappa had said soon after his return from Delhi on Saturday night.

Asked about the number of ministers likely to be inducted on Tuesday, he said, "13 to 14 people are likely to be inducted in to the cabinet in the first phase, there may be plus or minus one or two, we have now recommended 13 to 14 of them." Yediyurappa has a tightrope to walk during the cabinet expansion as he has to craft a fine caste and regional balance, in view of large number of aspirants, sources said.

However, with no decision yet by the Supreme Court on 17 disqualified Congress-JD(S) MLAs, whose resignation from the Assembly paved the way for the BJP to gain power, the chief minister has no immediate compulsion to accommodate them. Amid pressure from within, opposition parties, the Congress and JD(S) too had hit out at the BJP over the delay in cabinet expansion, and had even raised questions about the government's "existence". The Congress had even said that Yediyurappa's one-man cabinet administration "resembled President's rule."