JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of his council of ministers on Wednesday. This comes ahead of his proposed visit to Delhi later this week to discuss reshuffling his team of ministers with the party high command.
It is said that he has convened the meeting to discuss the reshuffle exercise that he has been planning for sometime. He may brief his colleagues about his plans and take them into confidence.
The Congress high command is also learnt to have told Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara to have a detailed discussion and then bring the list of the legislators to be inducted as ministers. The high command is said have told the Karnataka leaders to decide whether to reshuffle the entire ministry by taking the resignation of all the ministers or induct a few legislators by removing some of the “inefficient” ones. Besides, Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara have been told to identify some of the leaders who will work for the party as the reshuffle of the KPCC is also on the cards.
It is speculated that Siddaramaiah may take the resignation of the ministers at Wednesday’s meeting before his Delhi visit. But there was no official confirmation in this regard. The Cabinet section had not finalised the meeting agenda till late on Monday evening.
Sources in the Chief Minister’s office said the meeting may deliberate about a dozen important matters which were kept pending because of the model code of conduct that was in force in view of the elections. But the sources did not rule out the possibility of Siddaramaiah seeking to pass a brief resolution at the meeting, authorising him to take any decision while reshuffling the council of ministers. The sources said the council of ministers’ meeting is normally convened only on special occasions such as passing the budget documents, governor’s address to the legislature and important resolutions.
Lobbying begins
Meanwhile, many ministers and ministerial aspirants are camping in Delhi. Ministers R V Deshpande B Ramanath Rai, H K Patil, R Roshan Baig, S R Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda are lobbying for their continuation as ministers. MLAs Ashok Pattan, K B Koliwad, J T Patil, Pratap Gowda Patil, Hampana Gowda Badarli, H Y Meti, Basavaraj Rayareddy, Narayanaswamy and A B Malaka Raddy have been knocking the doors of the senior leaders seeking a ministerial berth. They are mainly meeting former Defence Minister A K Antony and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Siddaramaiah postpones Delhi visit
Siddaramaiah, who was scheduled to come to the national capital to discuss his ministry reshuffle with the party top brass on Monday, has postponed his visit as Congress president Sonia Gandhi is away from Delhi. “Sonia has gone to Shimla and will be returning on Thursday or Friday. So Siddaramaiah was told to come to Delhi by weekend”, sources in the Congress told Deccan Herald in Delhi. He will come to Delhi only after Friday, sources added.