Bengaluru, Jan 13: Minutes after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced the list of seven new ministers, dissatisfaction erupted in the Karnataka BJP with many MLAs questioning the parameters for selection of ministers in the state Cabinet.
The addition of three MLCs - MTB Nagaraj, CP Yogeeshwar and R Shankar - also irked the MLAs seeking Cabinet berths. Apart from the three, DyCM Laxman Savadi and Muzrai minister Kota Srinivas Poojary are also MLCs, taking the tally of ministers from the Legislative Council to five.
Bommanahalli MLA M Satish Reddy, in a tweet, rued that young workers of the party were being ignored. What are the parameters for selection of ministers during Cabinet expansion, Reddy asked Yediyurappa.
"What are the reasons for you, state and national leadership to not consider loyal young karyakartas of the party (for the Cabinet)? The absence of late Union Minister Ananthkumar - who had an ear for our woes - is very clear," he said.
CM’s political secretary MP Renukacharya, who was vying for a Cabinet berth, alleged that only those who lobbied for posts were inducted. "This is just a Bengaluru-Belagavi Cabinet," he said, referring to the large number of ministers hailing from the two districts. Injustice has been meted out to the Central Karnataka region, he added.
MLC AH Vishwanath, who was among the MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) coalition to resign in 2019 over assurance of being made ministers, lashed out at the CM for not keeping his word. Yediyurappa succumbed to pressure from Yogeeshwar, Vishwanath said, citing that as the reason for the CM to drop him from the list of ministers.
Earlier in the day, MLAs GH Thippareddy and Nehru Olekar had also expressed displeasure over Cabinet expansion.
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