Amidst speculation over the possibility of a Ministerial expansion or reshuffle, several Ministerial aspirants, including veteran leader B.S. Yediyurappa’s son B.Y. Vijayendra, have been camping in the national capital, while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai reached there on Tuesday evening. Lobbying for berths in the Cabinet has intensified, even though there is no confirmation that there will be an expansion yet.
While there are four vacancies in the Ministry, speculations are rife that the party may drop four to six Ministers to accommodate new faces ahead of elections. This has pushed several Ministers also to rush to New Delhi to lobby hard to retain their berths, sources said. M.P. Renukacharya, Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, Murugesh Nirani, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Srimath Patil are among the BJP leaders camping in Delhi. Several other leaders, including Jagadish Shettar, are expected to reach the national capital by Wednesday, sources said.
Mr. Bommai has sought the appointment of both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda on Wednesday. “His programme is open for Wednesday, as neither appointments have been confirmed yet. But we are confident that he will meet both leaders, if not at least Mr. Nadda,” a senior official said. This Delhi trip comes in the wake of Mr. Shah’s recent visit to the State where he held a core committee meeting, where poll preparations were discussed.
“We are expecting at least four Ministers, including a few defectors who switched to BJP bringing it to power in 2019, will be dropped from the Cabinet, making way for new faces. A year ahead of elections, the party and the Government need an image makeover and new energy,” a senior office-bearer of the party said.
The issue of Mr. Vijayendra has become a bone of contention between the party high command and Mr. Yediyurappa, sources said. While the former Chief Minister is reportedly keen on his son’s induction into the Cabinet, the high command was not in favour of it, sources said.
“Recently, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh, who won as an MLA and aspired to be a Minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet, was not allowed to. It is highly unlikely that Mr. Vijayendra will be made a Minister here,” said a senior strategist for the party. Speculations are rife that Mr. Vijayendra will probably be accommodated in the party as a general secretary ahead of elections, rather than as a Minister, as he is not a member of either of the Houses of the State legislature, sources said.
