Three Karnataka ministers dropped, six to take oath Wednesday (Second Lead)

BANGALORE - Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Tuesday dropped three ministers and will induct six Wednesday in the first major reshuffle of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s first ministry in Karnataka.

The axed ministers are Aravind Limbavali (Higher Education), K. Shivanagounda Naik (Mass Education and Public Libraries), and Goolihatti Shekar (Sports and Youth Affairs).

Governor H.R. Bhardwaj has accepted Yeddyurappa’s recommendation to drop the three ministers, a Raj Bhavan statement said.

With these ministers dropped, there are six vacancies in the 34-member ministry and they will be filled Wednesday. A swearing-in ceremony is scheduled at 9.30 a.m. at Raj Bhavan.

The names of those to be inducted will be announced later.

The shake-up in the 28-month-old ministry comes amid chaotic developments in the party with Shekar talking of suicide if dropped and senior BJP legislators threatening to resign if they were not made ministers.

Shekar appears to have reconciled to losing the cabinet berth though he was sarcastic in his comments after his suicide threat did not work. “I wish Yeddyurappa remains chief minister for another 20 years,” Shekar told reporters late Tuesday.

The intervention of powerful mine owners and ministers, the Reddy brothers, on behalf of Shekar and Naik could not save them from being shown the door for poor handling of their ministries.

Limbavali was also dropped for the same reason.

Legislators denied cabinet berth blasted the party for ignoring loyal workers.

“Only ‘lafangeys’ (loafers), thieves, liars and land grabbers have a place in this party and not honest workers,” a four-time BJP legislator from Mysore, H.S. Shankaralinge Gowda, said after Yeddyyurappa told him he was helpless and could not make him a minister.

Opposing their loyalists being dropped, state Tourism minister G. Karunakara Reddy told reporters: “The core committee, which is to take important decisions on party and governance matters, has not been called to discuss the cabinet shuffle.”

The core committee, of which he is a member, was set up as part of the compromise formula to please the Reddy brothers who had revolted against Yeddyurappa in October-November last year.

In a relief to Yeddyurappa, the threat of 20 legislators resigning if Belur Gopalakrishna, an assembly member from Shimoga, was not made a minister, fizzled out Tuesday.

But the Mysore legislator Shankaralinge Gowda did not mince words in lashing out at his party.

“Yeddyurappa told me I deserve a cabinet berth but he is helpless and pained because he could not make me a minister. But what about me, I have won four times but newcomers are getting preference in the party,” a fuming Gowda told reporters after the meeting.

“Only ‘lafangeys’, thieves, liars and land grabbers have a place in this party,” he repeated.

Eshwarappa denied that another aspirant, C.T. Ravi, a legislator form Chikmagalur, had submitted his resignation from the assembly.

“Nobody has resigned and no one will. We will convince our party legislators,” he said.

Karnataka can have a 34-member ministry, inclusive of the chief minister.