BENGALURU: A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hinted in New Delhi about a reshuffle of his ministry, Congress circles are abuzz that Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Kagodu Thimmappa, and KPCC chief, Dr G. Parameshwar, could replace non-performing ministers ahead of the forthcoming session of legislature in Belgavi.
Speculation is rife that central leaders of the party would force Mr. Siddaramaiah to opt for an expansion of the cabinet as well to fill four vacancies, a move which the Chief Minister had stalled successfully despite intense pressure from 20 to 30 legislators.
Speaking to media, a senior leader based in Delhi disclosed that ministers who could either be axed or get new portfolios include V. Srinivas Prasad (revenue), K.J. George (home), Kimmane Ratnakar (primary and secondary education), Qamar-ul-Islam (Wakf and municipal administration), M. H. Ambreesh (housing), Shamanoor Shivashankarappa (horticulture), Abhaychandra Jain (youth affairs and sports), and Parameshwara Naik (labour).
Among them, Mr Srinivas Prasad could be replaced by Dr Parameshwar as both belong to same community.
The leader said though Dr G. Parameshwar was demanding that he be appointed as deputy chief minister, he could be persuaded to accept a berth in the cabinet and allocate two key portfolios such as home and industries.
“The central leaders are very keen to get Congress-ruled states back on track and naturally Karnataka being the only important and big state ruled by our party, they do not want to see anybody messing up the party’s image at any cost.
“Therefore, they have decided to go for a full-fledged exercise of ministry-making,” the leader added.
