A “wholesale change” in the BJP-led Karnataka Government may be in the offing ahead of the Assembly polls next year. Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai, who is planning to carry out cabinet reshuffle, may seek the go-ahead from Home Minister Amit Shah, who will be visiting Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The BJP is dealing with a spate of controversies besetting the State Government, including the charges of demanding kickback and accusation of abatement of the suicide of a contractor by State Minister KS Eshwarappa who resigned after massive outrage.
Speculation about the leadership change has been triggered by BJP general secretary (org) BL Santosh asserting that the party leadership has the courage and strength to implement wholesale changes in State leadership, citing local polls in Delhi and Gujarat.
“I am not saying that this will happen everywhere, but the BJP is able to make decisions that cannot even be envisaged by other political parties. Due to the confidence and will in the party, these decisions are possible, and in Gujarat, when the Chief Minister was changed, the entire Cabinet was also changed. This was done with the intent to infuse freshness and not because of any complaints,” Santosh was quoted as saying last weekend.
Bommai has not reacted to Santosh’s comment, but former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has dismissed such speculation, saying Bommai was doing a “good job”. Shah will meet Bommai and Yediyurappa among others, and assess the preparations for the polls.
Shah is scheduled to take part in several events, including the valedictory function of the “Khelo India” University Games and will also be paying tributes to 12th-century social reformer and Lingayat saint Basavanna on the occasion of Basava Jayanthi.
Besides, he is scheduled to attend the inauguration and foundation stone laying of various projects, including Nrupathunga University, the E-inauguration of Forensic Science Laboratory in Bellari, and the inauguration of Bengaluru NATGRID Campus among others.
After his Karnataka Visit Shah will start his three-day West Bengal visit from May 4.
Bommai, like in the case of his predecessor Yediurappa, is under high pressure from the "aspirants" to carry out a reshuffle and induct fresh faces in the run-up to the assembly polls.
It is said a political overhaul on the line of Gujarat where the central BJP had even brought in a new Chief Minister cannot be ruled out before the assembly polls in Karnataka.