Political buzz intensifies after Sawant’s ‘Cabinet reshuffle by May 10’ remark

Team Herald

PANJIM: Hectic parleys have started within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and speculations are rife after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant hinted at a cabinet reshuffle soon, to induct at least two rebel Congress MLAs into the Cabinet, soon.

Speaking to O Heraldo on the eve of his birthday, the Chief Minister had said, “Yes. There will be a cabinet reshuffle soon. I want to induct them as soon as possible. It will be done and they will be inducted before the Karnataka Assembly elections.” He made the statement when asked if the long-expected cabinet reshuffle was on the cards to accommodate the eight Congress defectors.

Since there is no scope for Cabinet expansion as Sawant cabinet already has maximum permissible limit of 12 Ministers, the Chief Minister has no option but to drop some of the Ministers, so as to accommodate the new BJP entrants.

In September last year, eight Congress MLAs including the then Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo engineered a split in Congress Legislature Party and joined BJP. Since there were rumours that at least two of them would be induced as Ministers after dropping two Ministers from the Cabinet.

The political pundits are of the opinion that the Chief Minister waited for a year so that his Ministers complete one year in office. Though who would be dropped from the cabinet is still unknown, there is every possibility that at least one Minister from Ponda taluka would be asked to resign or be dropped from the Cabinet.

The induction of a former Chief Minister and former Congress Minister appears to be on the cards another former BJP Minister will have to wait some time to get accommodated. However, the trio was prominently seen at the BJP head office, Panjim where the Chief Minister celebrated his 50th birthday on Monday.

Of the eight former Congress legislators, five namely Sankalp Amonkar, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Faldesai, Rudolfo Fernandes and Kedar Naik have already been appointed as chairperson or vice chairperson of various semi-government corporations.

Though it is not clear whether the Chief Minister has consulted his Cabinet colleagues before asking them to resign, Sawant has dropped enough hints to O Heraldo of a Cabinet reshuffle within a fortnight before committing to it before the Karnataka assembly elections.