BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday that the expansion of the Ministry was being delayed because legislators themselves were not in favour of it, citing the "inauspicious period." He said the date for the expansion would be announced in two days.

Asked whether the delay was because he was facing the same pressures that confronted his predecessor, N. Dharam Singh, Mr. Kumaraswamy said, "The circumstances facing Dharam Singh were different. Here the ruling party legislators themselves do not want expansion at present because they consider it an inauspicious period. The date of the Cabinet expansion will be announced in another two days."

Mr. Kumaraswamy said the Cabinet would soon decide on the compensation to be released to the families of the eight persons who died in the violence in Bangalore that followed the death of the Kannada thespian Rajkumar.

Asked about reports that a senior IPS officer had claimed Rs. 1.60 crore of the Rs. 28.60 crore reward announced for the Special Task Force (STF) personnel who were engaged in the anti-Veerappan operations, he said the Cabinet would make suitable modifications, if required, before giving the reward.

Rift in BJP

T.S. Ranganna writes:

The second expansion of the State's coalition Ministry is unlikely to come about, at least for the time being, owing to a serious rift among senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the coalition partner, on who should be inducted into the Ministry.

Wednesday had been tentatively fixed for the swearing in of six ministers each from the BJP and the Janata Dal (S). But it has now been postponed indefinitely, as the BJP is finding it extremely difficult to select legislators to be ministers, BJP sources told The Hindu .

However, the Chief Minister has pooh-poohed talk of any delay in the expansion, and said that the date will be decided in a couple of days.

Near revolt

The BJP faced a near revolt by its MLAs such as Ravindranath and Shankaralinge Gowda after the first expansion of the Ministry. Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had to promise Cabinet berths for some of them in the next expansion to save the day. The MLAs were sore that they had been ignored to accommodate three MLCs.

Mr. Yediyurappa is already under attack from senior leaders such as the Ministers K.S. Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar and R. Ashok, who have the tacit support of the national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, for inducting nine of his supporters into the Cabinet.

However, what has soured inner-party harmony now is the rise of the first-time MLC from Dakshina Kannada district, Shobha Karandlaje, who has emerged as a close confidante of Mr. Yediyurappa.

Sources in the party allege that Mr. Yediyurappa is adamant on appointing Ms. Karandlaje as a Minister even though it means ignoring the claims of senior MLCs and MLAs who represent powerful castes and regions and who have contributed to the growth of the party in the State for decades. Another MLC, Vimala Gowda, is serving her second term in the Council and has been with the party for over 25 years, sources said.

Alternative suggested

Party leaders, including State unit president D.V. Sadananda Gowda, are said to have told Mr. Yediyurappa that he could take Sakuntala Shetty, MLA for Puttur, into the Ministry if he was keen on appointing a woman minister.

National leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and the former national president M. Venkaiah Naidu are stated to have tried in vain to convince Mr. Yediyurappa to change his mind on inducting Ms. Karandlaje into the Ministry. Sources said the national leaders were facing a dilemma as Mr. Yediyurappa was greatly responsible for the BJP coming to power in Karnataka through his strategic moves.

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