A second visit to Delhi is expected to discuss how the ministry will be formed: CM Bommai

Hubballi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said he is visiting Delhi tomorrow to meet central party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but will only discuss new ministry formation on his second visit.

“I am visiting Delhi tomorrow morning. here I will meet PM, Amit Shah ji, Rajnath Singh ji and Nadda ji. This will be my first time. I will thank them (for choosing me as the chief minister) and take their blessings. After this, I will seek time to visit again to discuss the formation of a new ministry. The selection of the new ministers will also take place,” Bommai told reporters in Hubballi.

Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot had dissolved the council of ministers led by former chief minister BS Yediyurappa after he had tendered resignation.

Amidst the buzz of new ministry formation, speculations are making rounds that many senior leaders and non-performing ministers in the previous ministry led by Yediyurappa will not be given ministerial berths.

Giving an indication towards this, seventy-one years old former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa said there would be many changes in the party after assumption of Bommai as the chief minister. “Basavaraja Bommai has just been chosen as the new chief minister. There will be many changes (in the party). Wait and watch,” he said yesterday.

Against this backdrop, the seers of backward communities have warned the BJP of grave consequences if Eshwarappa is not given the post of deputy chief minister.

Speaking to reporters, Shantamayya Shivacharya Swamiji said, “Eshwarappa has built the party in Karnataka. He was supposed to be the chief minister, but the central leadership decided otherwise. Therefore, they should give him the post of deputy chief minister. Otherwise, the BJP will face the consequences in the next few days.”

Even 65-years old former chief minister Jagadish Shettar decided to opt out of the ministerial race citing his seniority.

“After the assumption of the new Chief Minister … I have taken the decision not to join the new ministry because I was a former chief minister. Some may argue that I didn’t work under BSY’s chief ministership. Okay. Since Yediyurappa was senior to me, I worked in his ministry as the revenue minister. Keeping this criterion in view, I have decided to not join the new ministry, the process of which has begun,” he said.

Shettar, however, clarified that there was no pressure from the central party leadership, but it was his decision not to join the Bommai-led ministry. “This is my personal decision,” he said.

In the previous ministry under the Yediyurappa-led government, Shettar was a cabinet minister holding large and medium scale industries, excluding sugar and public enterprise departments.

Shettar was 21st chief minister of Karnataka from 2012 to 2013.