Karnataka minister threatens suicide if dropped in cabinet reshuffle

High drama marked an impending cabinet reshuffle in Karnataka with a minister today threatening to commit suicide if he was dropped while a ruling BJP legislator warned that 20 party MLAs would resign enmasse.

The threats came even as Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa met top BJP leadership in New Delhi today to discuss the reshuffle which is likely to take place on Wednesday.

Yeddyurappa discussed the issue with party president Nitin Gadkari and said the leadership would decide on the exercise. According to present indications, the reshuffle is likely to be effected on September 22.

Before returning to Bangalore, the chief minister said the party's core committee would meet tonight and take a final decision. Senior party leader from Karnataka Ananth Kumar is also expected to attend it, sources said.

"I don't know what turn it will take if I am dropped...it may even take the form of suicide. Let the BJP hoist its flag on my dead body," sports and youth affairs minister Gulihatti D Shekar said in Bangalore.

Shekar was one of the independents who supported the BJP government to give it majority in May 2008 after it fell short of the magic mark.

According to BJP sources, the chief minister is likely to drop three to four ministers and induct three new faces. 

BJP MLA Belur Gopalakrishna said a group of 20 MLAs, under the leadership of Excise Minister M P Renukacharya, have decided to submit their resignation en masse to the governor HR Bhardwaj tomorrow.

He said the MLAs would meet tomorrow to decide the future course of action after Renukacharya returns from abroad. He denied that it was pressure tactics.

Gopalakrishna, who was in the forefront of rebellion against the chief minister last year, said library minister Shivanagouda Naik might be axed.

"Red carpet has been laid out to outsiders and first-timers while injustice has been meted out to loyalists," he rued.

Meanwhile, a Yeddyruppa loyalist and minister, Anand Vasanth Asnotikar, said it was appropriate and imperative to restructure the cabinet by dropping non-performers,  scam-tainted persons and those who hurt the image of the party.

In a related development, MLA SK Bellubbi resigned from the chairmanship of a state-owned corporation saying he has been sounded to get ready to become a minister again. He was forced to quit by Yeddyurappa earlier to accommodate Umesh Katti, who had crossed over to BJP from JD(S).