New Delhi/Bengaluru: Armed with ornate Mysuru turbans and sandalwood garlands, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and other senior party leaders in Delhi but did not discuss the cabinet expansion issue as the list he was carrying had complex caste equations and balancing acts.
With elections to the local bodies due in December and Assembly elections in 2023, there are reports that Bommai is planning to have five deputy chief ministers and 6-8 young new faces in his cabinet which can accommodate a maximum of 34 members.
Taking a leaf out of what Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy did in 2019 when he had a large team of deputy CMs, a senior BJP functionary privy to discussions on cabinet formation was quoted in the media as saying that Bommai’s deputy CMs will be from five major social groups — SCs, STs, Vokkaligas, Lingayats and the OBCs.
The aim is to add all communities to the base vote bank of Lingayats and Brahmins. The rainbow Hindu approach is because the BJP has been struggling to cross the magic figure of 113 seats in the assembly polls since 2008.
Now that Yediyurappa and the Lingayats are satisfied with the appointment of a Lingayat CM, the move is to appease other communities — especially, SC/ST and major groups among OBCs.
In 2019, the party appointed three deputies to Yediyurappa, giving representation to Vokkaligas, Dalits and Lingayats. In 2012, the BJP went in for two deputy CMs after Yediyurappa resigned in an alleged illegal mining case.
“This time, the party is looking to identify five candidates with strong influence over their communities and prepare the party for a broader coalition of communities in the 2023 elections,” said a senior party functionary was quoted in the media.
Sources also said the Bommai may induct fresh faces into the Cabinet. This move may dent the prospects of 11 crossover legislators who were ministers under Yediyurappa.
Meanwhile, the CM has indicated that the cabinet expansion might take some time. He said he would visit Delhi again after two or three days to exclusively discuss cabinet expansion. He said it would take at least two rounds of meetings with the BJP central leadership to finalise the names for his council of ministers. Yediyurappa also faced a similar predicament when he took over as the chief minister in 2019, and it took him nearly a month to expand his cabinet.
In all this power game, Yediyurappa said that he was not going to interfere in the selection of cabinet members.
