BS Yeddyurappa recasts his ministry, inducts 6 ministers

Sending a message to his detractors that he was in command, Karnataka chief minister BS Yedyurappa today inducted six ministers, including his confidante Shobha Karandlaje, into his cabinet.

A day after axing three ministers loyal to mining magnate and tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy, Yedyurappa ensured the return of Karandlaje 11 months after she was dropped at the height of dissidence led by Reddy last year. 

On expected lines, A Narayanaswamy, CH Vijayashankar, CC
Patil, Karandlaje, V Somanna and SA Ramadas were administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor HR Bhardwaj in Raj Bhavan.

Sensing the brewing discontent among legislators hoping to make it into the ministry , state unit party president KS
Eswarappa said the ministry would again be restructured after
March next and at least three new faces given a chance.

Janardhana Reddy, who had warned against the sacking of three of his supporters from the ministry and complained to the BJP high command about Yeddyurappa's action, went soft saying they would accept the party's decision.

"We are happy with the party decision. We go by whatever decision the party takes," Reddy, who was unhappy with the sacking of Aravind Limbavali, Shivanagouda Naik and Goolihatti Shekar despite his pleas for their continuance, told reporters.

The softening of stance by Janardhana Reddy and his brother and minister Karunanakara Reddy was being attributed in BJP circles to the on-going probe by the state CID and also by Lokayukta into illegal mining and illegal export of iron ore.

Going in for a major re-structuring of the ministry 28 months after the first ever saffron party government was installed in the South and surviving a major threat to his chair last year, Yeddyurappa has virtually retaliated at the Bellary ministerial trioka by taking them head-on.

Yeddyurappa, who hails from the dominant Lingayat community also chose not to pay heed to the reported insistence by party National general secretary HN Anantkumar against carrying out the reshuffle now and also his attempts to induct his supporters in the ministry.

"Finally, I have got justice," was the cryptic reaction by Karandlaje, who has been a target among sections of the BJP for wielding influence disproportionate to her status.

Having his way despite reservations within his party, Yedyurappa also inducted Somanna, who had the ignominy of demitting office as a minister after he failed to win an assembly bye-election from Bangalore last year.

With today's induction of ministers, all in cabinet rank, the strength of the Yeddyurappa ministry has reached 34.  

Vijayashankar, Ramadas, Narayan Swamy and Patil are first time ministers.

Somanna and Patil are from the majority Lingayat community, to which Yedyurappa belongs, while Karandlaje is a Vokkaliga, the second numerically strong caste in Karnataka. 

Ramdas is a Brahmin, Vijayashankar hails from backward Kuruba community and Naryanaswamy from Dalit section. 

All the three ministers sacked yesterday were from the Dalit sections. 

Seeking to play down the brewing discontent, Eswarappa, said, "when a manthan (churning) takes place, some poison is bound to flow. But subsequently when the nectar flows, all problems are solved". 

The ministry expansion and reshuffle was not without drama as Shekhar had spoken about committing suicide, if he was axed, a threat Yedyurappa brushed aside. 

Several MLAs aspiring for a ministerial slot had also warned of resigning en masse if they were ignored, but the chief minister shrugged off this threat too.