Chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and BJP state unit president, K.S. Eshwarappa might not like to remember this Diwali too often as both of them reportedly earned more brickbats than sweets from party central leaders during a meeting in Nagpur.
For one, they were unable to get the nod for the proposed Cabinet expansion, which was put off because of inner-party differences. During their visit to Nagpur where they met party president Nitin Gadkari, Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Eshwarappa were sternly told that central leaders would discuss the issue and inform the state unit on when and how the Cabinet should be expanded.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who refused to speak more about the expansion, told reporters in Bengaluru on Saturday that he would go by the directive of Mr Gadkari. However, the state leaders have been given the impression that independent member, Varthur Prakash may find it difficult to make it to the Cabinet. Nor is the central leadership too keen on inducting any other BJP MLA in the Cabinet at this stage.
In fact the leaders seem to be of the opinion that the Cabinet should be reshuffled or expanded only after the taluk and zilla panchayat elections. According to the sources, tourism minister, G. Janardhan Reddy was huddled with Mr Prakash for more than three hours on Saturday and has been given the task of persuading Mr Prakash not to rebel at this stage.