Karnataka cabinet expansion on 6 February, says BS Yediyurappa; 13 MLAs, including 10 rebels, to take oath at 10.30 am

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday said that the cabinet expansion would take place on 6 February, with 13 MLAs taking oath of office. “The cabinet expansion will take place on 6 February with the oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan at 10.30 am,” he told reporters in Bengaluru. Thirteen MLAs, including 10 who had joined BJP from parties, including Congress and the JD(S), will take oath, he said. Yediyurappa had received the nod from the BJP central leadership on 31 January for the expansion of his six month old cabinet. The exercise has been on the cards for nearly two months ever since BJP won 12 of the 15 seats in the 5 December 2019 bypolls, helping the Yediyurappa government retain majority in the Assembly. There are 18 ministers, including the chief minister, in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant. The chief minister had said that barring one or two, most of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the bypolls on BJP tickets would be made ministers, but that there would not be additional deputy chief ministers. Though he had given an assurance to all 11 re-elected legislators that they would be made ministers, he said on Sunday that 10 of them would be made ministers. The cabinet expansion exercise will be a delicate task for the chief minister as he has to ensure adequate representation to various castes and regions. The cabinet already has eight Lingayats, including the chief minister, three Vokkaligas, three from Scheduled Castes, two OBCs, one from the Scheduled Tribe and a Brahmin. Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in the cabinet expansion, alleging that he was weak and that his administration had collapsed.