BS Yediyurappa says Karnataka cabinet expansion likely by end of December, only MLAs elected in recent bypolls to be made ministers

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday made it clear that only those MLAs who won the recent bypolls will be made ministers and no one else. [caption id=“attachment_7235671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa. ANI[/caption] With cabinet expansion on the cards ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a comfortable majority in the Assembly by winning 12 of the 15 constituencies which went to byelections on 5 December, hectic lobbying has started for ministerial berths. Many aspirants have made a beeline for the chief minister, seeking to push their case. The minister for health and family welfare B Sriramulu is keen to get the post of Deputy Chief Minister. “We have already said that those who have won the recent Assembly byelections will be made ministers. There is no question of making others ministers,” Yediyurappa told reporters here. “I will go to Delhi after 21 or 22 December and get the matter (cabinet expansion) resolved. The oath-taking (by the new ministers) will take place by the end of the month,” the chief minister added. The Karnataka government can have 34 ministers, including chief minister, of which 18 have been filled. MLAs G Somashekar Reddy, Murugesh Nirani, Umesh Katti, Ramesh Jarkiholi and deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi met Yediyurappa on Tuesday and are believed to have discussed cabinet expansion. BJP sources said Jarkiholi had put forth his demand to make him deputy chief minister with the plum Water Resources portfolio.