Karnataka Cabinet expansion: One-on-one meetings held with hopefuls to ward off future disgurntlement

Ahead of the proposed Karnataka Cabinet expansion, ministerial hopefuls, who made a beeline to Delhi, are learnt to have been asked to remain composed even if they do not eventually make it when the names are announced.

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar meeting with Congress legislators in Delhi.
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Special arrangement

The list is likely to be finalised over the next few days by the party’s central leadership. Sources said that more than 25 legislators, who had been camping in Delhi for the past two days, were given an audience by the Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, at the All India Congress Committee office on Akbar Road in Delhi.

During the discussion, which was also attended by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, legislators were informed about tough choices to be made in accommodating aspirants within the available berths, while addressing representation for varous castes, districts and regions.

“Probably this was being done to prevent any kind of dissidence in future. Most of the legislators were given a personal audience and were told that the party knew their case well,” a source aware of the developments said.

This comes in the context of fresh and new faces being considered for inclusion in the Cabinet. While 14 Cabinet berths, including that of the Chief Minister, have been filled, 20 are yet to be filled.

A former Minister and Cabinet hopeful, who was in Delhi on Friday, said it was unlikely that all the vacant berths would be filled at one go. “Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also given his list of preferences, which is under consideration,” he said.

On Friday, several Cabinet hopefuls and close aides of Mr. Siddaramaiah joined him for breakfast in Delhi.

The former Chief Minister, along with Mr. Shivakumar and KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad, had met the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, whose absence on Thursday left discussions on Cabinet expansion incomplete, is expected to return to Delhi on Saturday afternoon. He had returned to his home in Bengaluru owing to a family emergency.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shivakumar told reporters in Delhi that discussions on the expansion of the State Cabinet had been held with the Congress high command. The Chief Minister said he would meet Mr. Kharge on Saturday and proceed with the necessary preparations after receiving guidance from the party leadership.

Most of the legislators who had been camping in Delhi are learnt to have left by Friday night.