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Karnataka Cabinet expansion after trust vote

Staff Reporter

All 16 JD(S) Ministers to be appointed at one go

BANGALORE: With another round of pujas and ceremonies, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy moved into his home office "Krishna", with wife Anita and other family members on Sunday.

After the puja, Mr. Kumaraswamy told presspersons that the Cabinet expansion will be completed within four days after seeking a trust vote in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. He has made it clear that the ministry-making exercise will not be a truncated one. All the 16 Janata Dal (Secular) ministers will be appointed at one go. Even the chairpersons to various boards and corporations will be appointed within this deadline. He will visit New Delhi immediately afterwards.

As for the Janata Dal (S) national executive committee's decision to expel Mr. Kumaraswamy and 39 other MLAs, who defied the party president H.D. Deve Gowda's diktat against aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Kumaraswamy said: "For me, any punishment given by my father (Mr. Deve Gowda) will only be blessings."

He will be going to Delhi shortly to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek assistance and cooperation from the Centre for all the development projects, which have been abandoned and seek their revival, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

Exuding confidence that the new Janata Dal (S)-BJP coalition will complete its tenure, Mr. Kumaraswamy echoed BJP President Rajnath Singh's assertion that the new partnership is for keeps and will only be strengthened further for the next general elections and all other elections in between.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who has revealed his impatience with ideology dominating over action, said his concern will be to ensure clean and honest administration for the people of Karnataka. There will be no room for inefficiency, dishonesty or shoddy work, especially where issues directly affecting the public are concerned, he said.

The Chief Minister is scrutinising and making an assessment of bureaucrats and is expected to replace top officers heading departments with men of his choice. "I believe that the officers who work closely with the Chief Minister and aid him in the task of governance need to be chosen well or it could send the wrong message to the people," he is said to have declared.

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