Well before chief minister-elect Jagadish Shettar could take oath on Thursday, serious differences have cropped up between him and the leader who backed him to the hilt, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, on who should make it to the Cabinet.
Mr Shettar, who rushed to New Delhi along with state unit chief K.S. Eshwarappa to meet senior central leaders of the party on formation of the ministry on Wednesday, had to contend with a domineering Mr Yeddyurappa, who insisted that his supporters — B.J. Puttaswamy, C.C. Patil, Laxman Savadi and Karadi Sanganna — be inducted into the Cabinet. Mr Shettar politely refused to accede to Mr Yeddyurappa’s recommendations, with senior party leaders backing him on this issue. Mr Shettar and the leaders were opposed to their entry as it would not only upset the caste matrix of the Cabinet but also tantamount to rewarding candidates like Mr Puttaswamy, who embarrassed the party top brass by contesting the recent Rajya Sabha polls as a rebel, top sources in
the party told this newspaper.
Mr Shettar intends to complete the exercise of Cabinet formation at one go. Mr Eshwarappa concurred, saying “Mr Shettar and I are going to Delhi to meet our party president and other leaders tonight to decide who all should be in the ministry.”
Contrary to earlier reports, Mr Eshwarappa and former home minister R. Ashoka are likely to be sworn-in as deputy chief ministers as part of the party’s “LKG” or Lingayat-Kuruba-Gowda formula to retain its support base ahead of next year’s elections to the Legislative Assembly.