Karnataka cabinet expansion put on hold

BENGALURU: In the wake of a series of controversies that have rocked the one-year old JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka, the much-awaited state cabinet expansion has been put on hold.
Party sources in the state Congress said their legislature party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah was keen to expand his team on the eve of the monsoon session of the state legislature, which is expected to be held in the first week of July.
However, furious with a spate of rows involving senior Congress leaders and JD(S) chief AH Vishwanath’s resignation, JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda is in no mood to give a ‘go-ahead’ to chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to expand his ministerial team, sources added.
Indicating what’s in store, Siddaramaiah, who has been batting for cabinet expansion till Wednesday, asked media persons on Thursday to find out about cabinet expansion from Kumaraswamy himself. "He (CM) is the person to decide on cabinet expansion. I am not the person. Please go ask him," he said.
Party source said just a week ago plans were afoot to go for a major cabinet reshuffle after making some ministers to resign before the start of the monsoon session. The two parties looked forward to offering ministerial berths to some disgruntled senior MLAs including R Roshan Baig, R Ramalinga Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil, among others.
However, the going seems hardly smooth for Kumaraswamy since there are too many aspirants now. "Under such circumstances chances of the JD(S) and Congress leadership giving its okay to Kumaraswamy to add more ministers to his cabinet are very bleak," said a key Congress functionary.
A section in the Congress and JD(S) thinks that cabinet expansion at this juncture may well help the opposition BJP shore up the plummeting prospects of toppling the coalition government.
Meanwhile, the BJP is all set to haul up the already beleaguered Kumaraswamy government on hot coals in the JSW issue during the monsoon session besides poor handling of drought relief in the state.