Even as a few Ministers are camping in the national capital, the Karnataka Cabinet reshuffle, which is due since the Lok Sabha elections, may be largely dependent on Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s decision on granting or not granting permission for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s prosecution in the alleged irregularities in allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Still undecided
Mr. Gehlot seems to have not yet taken a decision on the Council of Ministers advising him to withdraw the show-cause notice issued to Mr. Siddaramaiah in the case. The Raj Bhavan is expected to make its stance clear on the matter after Independence Day celebrations on Thursday, sources in the Congress said.
The Cabinet reshuffle process would happen in a month or two if the Governor maintained silence or withdrew the show-cause notice. The party high command has also been waiting for the Governor’s ruling on the matter, Congress sources maintained.
The combined Opposition of BJP and JD(S) launched a padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru seeking the resignation of the Chief Minister for his alleged role in scams in the MUDA and Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, while the Congress launched mass conventions on the same route highlighting scams that took place during the previous BJP government.
Dalit leaders
Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, and Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa, all Dalit leaders, have visited Delhi amid speculations that some Ministers would be dropped and portfolios changed during the Cabinet reshuffle. Mr. Muniyappa met Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress MPs K.C. Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Rumours are also doing the rounds in the party circles that Dalit Ministers would stake a claim for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post during the Cabinet reshuffle, apparently to counter the “dominance” of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in the government’s affairs.
DKS in Delhi
Mr. Shivakumar, who is also Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, was in Delhi to attend a meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and general secretaries presided over by AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday. He is expected to discuss the issue of the Cabinet reshuffle and developments in the alleged MUDA scam with the central leaders of the party.
Sources said party central leaders have secured the performance records of Ministers. Ministers who were not able to deliver results to the party in the Lok Sabha elections and had not performed up to the mark in delivering promises to voters were expected to get dropped, sources maintained.
