BENGALURU: With two days to go for the much-delayed expansion of his Cabinet, Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa has a tough task on hand with almost a dozen senior legislators threatening to revolt against the six-month-old government in case they are not inducted into the ministry on Thursday.
On Tuesday, senior MLAs — Basavangowda Patil Yatnal, M.P. Renukacharya, Raju Gowda, Dr Shivaraj Patil, Rajkumar Patil Telkar, Paranna Munavalli, Basawaraj Mattimud, Basavaraju Durgappa Dadesugar and Anand Mamani — upped their ante and demanded berths in the ministry listing their seniority and loyalty to Mr Yediyurappa.
Speaking to media persons on their behalf, Mr Gowda said, “We are not opposing induction of rebel MLAs, who were instrumental in dethroning the coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy, but we are against the induction of defeated BJP MLA, C.P. Yogishwar at a time when many senior MLAs are waiting to join the government.”
Mr Gowda also demanded an adequate representation for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region during the expansion of the Cabinet. Mr Mamani, who represents Saundatti in the Assembly, backed Mr Gowda’s demand in a tweet while regretting that loyalty and the chief minister could ignore seniority.
Mr Yediyurappa, however, declined to react to the demands put forth by senior legislators.
Sources in the party said the prospect of a rebellion could fade away soon, given the fact that all these senior legislators are diehard supporters of Mr Yediyurappa.
The chief minister was forced to put off the expansion of his Cabinet for more than two months as his repeated attempts to secure a go-ahead from top leaders — Union home minister Amit Shah and others — went in vain.
He endured intense pressure from newcomers, who won the Assembly bypolls held in December 2019, and senior legislators during the long wait.
Senior central leaders of his party gave him the go-ahead last month but are insisting that the new team should include newcomers as well as senior legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
