14 Karnataka ministers to be replaced?

Bengaluru, Jun 19: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah finally got approval from the Congress high command to undertake a major reshuffle of his ministry. This would allow him to drop 14 ministers and induct as many fresh faces.

This will be the first major revamp of the council of ministers of the Congress government to tone up its image and performance as well as prepare the party for the Assembly election in 2018.

“We discussed all the names to be dropped and inducted with AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhiji. We have convinced them about the changes needed and the high command has authorised me to go ahead with the reshuffle,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here after he ended a second round of consultations with the party top brass, which lasted more than two hours on Saturday.

Siddaramaiah apparently convinced Sonia on the formula he had prepared for the removal of “underperforming” ministers and bringing in new faces that would help the Congress consolidate its social support base.

However, a cautious Congress chief checked each name on the list and asked the chief minister about their level of influence among voters and the need for their induction into the ministry or for axing them.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara and Karnataka in-charge general secretary Digvijaya Singh were present at the meeting.

The challenge before the party high command was to allow itself to be thoroughly convinced that each induction or exclusion was on the basis of “political” merit to avoid a repetition of the crisis witnessed in other Congress-ruled states. A major factor was that the state ministry was up to its full strength of 34.

Amidst pulls and pressures, Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara held a number of meetings with senior central leaders to finalise the names.

Though Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara submitted a list of 15 ministers to be dropped to Sonia on Friday, she asked them to consult senior leaders again.