Karnataka cabinet expansion: denial of berth will send wrong

Amid rumours that the Karnataka cabinet expansion is likely to take place on Monday, BJP MLA from Athani Mahesh Kumathalli has said denial of a ministerial post to him will send a wrong message.

A day after Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa managed to get the green signal from the party high command for expansion of the six-month-old cabinet in the state, Kumathalli on Saturday reminded the CM of the promises made to him ahead of the bypolls.

"During the bye-election from Athani, in front of some 30,000 to 35,000 people he (Yediyurappa) had said unequivocally that Srimant Patil of Kagwad and Mahesh Kumathalli will be made ministers and hence people should bless them," Kumathalli, a former congress MLA, told reporters here.

"Never had it occurred to us in the remotest corner of our mind that he will ever desert us. If such things happen, then it will send a wrong message," he reminded the Chief Minister.

However, he was confident that Yediyurappa will not desert him because "he is a man of his word who never backtracks from his promise and his opponents too say the same thing about him."
When asked about Kumathalli's statement, Yediyurappa curtly replied, "I will speak to him."