Siddaramaiah may drop some ministers by year-end

Bangalore, Nov 10: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is understood to be planning a shake-up of his council of ministers by this year-end, and four to five ministers are likely to be shown the door. According to sources, reshuffle of portfolios are also on the cards.

Under-performance and ill-health are said to be the two main factors that are going to determine the reshuffle. The chief minister has held a preliminary round of consultation with AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijay Singh, in this regard. But the final nod from the party high command is yet to come, the party sources said.

According to sources, the ministers likely to be dropped are: Minister for Textiles Baburao Chinchansur, Water Resources Minister M B Patil, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar,  Horticulture Minister Shamanur Shivashan­karappa and Revenue Minister V Sreenivas Prasad.

Siddaramaiah has already directed his office to compile a report on the performance of each of the ministers. The report is being prepared based on implementation of budgetary programmes, number of review meetings held, touring the State for inspection and file clearance, sources added.

However, neither Siddaramaiah nor the party high command has prepared a tentative list of names for new ministers. The process to select names is likely to commence after the winter session of the State legislature likely to be held in December at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi.

The party has a long list of ministerial aspirants, many of them are former ministers and senior legislators. But the exercise to appoint chairmen, vice-chairmen and members to various boards and corporations will be completed before the commencement of the session, sources said.