More than three years after assuming office, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will effect a major reshuffle of his ministry tomorrow in a bid to refurbish administration with several ministers facing the axe.
The much talked about exercise is coming after the party High Command gave the green signal to the Chief Minister who held intense confabulations with party President Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi since yesterday.
"We discussed all names to be dropped and inducted with AICC President and Vice President Sonia and Rahulji. We have convinced them. High Command has authorised me to go ahead with the reshuffle," Siddaramaiah told reporters in the national capital.
He said the list would be prepared in a day or two but later in the evening it was announced by the government that the revamp will take place tomorrow afternoon.
Before the meeting, Siddaramaiah discussed the matter with Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who reportedly had some reservations on some names.
The Chief Minister, according to party sources, is expected to remove about a dozen ministers and induct young legislators and senior Congress leaders to strike a balance of caste and regional factors.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara and Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh were also present in the meeting. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka in 2014, joined the deliberations later.
The exercise is coming in order to put the party on a sound footing two years before the Assembly elections in Karnataka, which is the only major state where the Congress is ruling after being recently ejected out of power in Kerala and Assam.
The Chief Minister declined to state who would be dropped and the names of inductees.
With 34 ministers, the Karnataka ministry is up to its full strength as per the Constitutional limit.
Preparing the ground before the Assembly session next month, Siddaramaiah had on Wednesday sought cooperation from his council of Ministers.
