With 24 hours to go for swearing-in of a new team headed by Lingayat strongman from north Karnataka, Jagadish Shettar, aspirants, including some tainted former ministers, are lobbying hard to make it to the cabinet. As legislators rushed to the party office and the residences of senior leaders to lobby for berths, an elated former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who served delicacies to friends and well-wishers earlier in the day, reportedly recommended his former political advisor B.J. Puttaswamy as well as Laxman Savadi and C.C. Patil, who quit on charges of watching a porn clipping in the Assembly, for cabinet posts.
Their names were sent to the party office where general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Dharmendra Pradhan, was closeted with Mr Shettar, state unit president K.S. Eshwarappa and party organising secretary Santhosh. Later, Mr. Pradhan called on Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, while Mr Shettar held a closed-door meeting with national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar.
Sources said legislators facing serious charges would be kept out as part of the strategy to spruce up the party image, while those from districts which were not represented in the outgoing cabinet, and staunch loyalists of the party would get a look-in.