Bengaluru: Seven ministers – Umesh Katti, Arvind Limbavali, MTB Nagaraj, Murugesh Nirani, R Shankar, CP Yogeshwar and S Angara – were inducted into the Karnataka Cabinet on Wednesday at around 4 PM. The oath was administered by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Glass House of the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
Three of the new ministers – Umesh Katti, Arvind Limbavali and Murugesh Nirani – are considered to be loyalists of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
Meanwhile, Excise Minister H Nagesh was dropped from his post today.
It can be recalled that the Cabinet expansion was long-awaited, especially by those who switched over to the BJP from the Congress and JD(S) parties. The Cabinet had become a hot topic and the centre of a lot of speculation as to who would be inducted and who would be dropped.
With this, all speculation has been laid to rest.
Speaking about the development, CM Yediyurappa said that one post has been kept vacant and that discussions will be held with former minister Nagesh to try and convince him, said an NDTV report.
The Cabinet expansion comes days after the CM’s visit to New Delhi where he met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also the former national president of the BJP.
Meanwhile, it is reported that resentment is brewing in the ruling party after the Cabinet expansion. Many legislators of the party, it is reported, have expressed reservations about unelected MLCs being made ministers.
Vijayapura City MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a major critic of the CM who was thought to be in the list to become minister during the Cabinet expansion, accused Yediyurappa of making the appointments under the pressure of blackmail.
Speaking to reporters in Vijayapura, Yatnal said that he did not want to become a minister under BSY and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “end the dynastic politics from Yediyurappa’s family in the state”.
‘I challenge you (Yediyurappa) ahead of Makara Sankranti that from Uttarayana your (political) end will begin and a new period will start under PM Modi in Karnataka,’ he said, OneIndia reported.
