Sankranti special: Reshuffle on cards

CM Bommai will have to do the balancing act by including the old guard and first-time MLAs ahead of 2023 polls.

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: A major revamp of the state Cabinet is on the cards with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai planning to undertake the exercise after the Sankranti festival in January to give a boost to governance.

Karnataka will go to polls in April/May 2023 and there is a big responsibility on Bommai who will have to lead the BJP into the crucial poll battle. With hardly 14-16 months left for the Assembly polls, the government had to go into full throttle and complete all pending and ongoing projects in districts in general and Bengaluru in particular to woo voters. Several BJP legislators are waiting in the wings to get into the Council of Ministers before the tenure of the incumbent government ends.

Sources close to Bommai told News Trail that the CM is planning to visit Delhi in the first week of 2022 to meet BJP National President J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and seek permission for revamping the Cabinet to give a chance to the BJP old guard and to first-time legislators also.

In the first and second Cabinet expansion, many districts had gone unrepresented whereas Bengaluru Urban bagged the lion’s share of ministerial posts. This has angered many legislators and they have been putting pressure on state leaders for their induction into the Cabinet.But the biggest hurdle for Bommai is accommodating legislators who were earlier in the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular). These ‘turncoats’ have become a burden for the ruling party as they need to be accorded priority compared to the original BJP leaders. the other hand, some senior BJP leaders who were ministers in governments led by H.D. Kumaraswamy, B.S. Yediyurappa, D.V.Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar are not ready to sacrifice for otherssomething Rajajinagar MLA S Sureshkumar did when he declined the minister’s post to give a chance to others, sources said.

The sources pointed out senior BJP leaders may play the caste card or distance themselves from party activities in case they are dropped from the ministry. Bommai no doubt has a tough task and the rejig will be undertaken only after the nod from Union Home Minister Amit Shah whose decision is unlikely to be challenged, the sources added.