Cabinet expansion confusion affecting administration: Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah on Friday alleged that the administration in Karnataka was suffering due to confusion within the ruling BJP on cabinet expansion and change of Chief Minister.

The senior Congress leader also said that the BJP, which accused the opposition of 'high command' culture, was now following the same course. "Administration in Karnataka is suffering due to confusion within Karnataka BJP. Cabinet expansion or Change of CM - it should be internal affairs of their party. But, this is affecting the governance and this should stop," Siddaramaiah tweeted. "BJP was targeting opposition with jibes like high command culture, family politics, etc.The same BJP is now doing the same thing and also ignoring the administration," he added.

There has been much delay in the expansion or reshuffle of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's cabinet after he expressed his intentions to carry out the exercise, with the BJP high command yet to give its stamp of approval.

The CM however on Friday said expansion or reshuffle will be finalised within three days and a programme will be planned thereafter for the swearing-in of new Ministers. There has also been intense speculation in some quarters thatthe BJP high command is mulling leadership change in Karnataka in the days to come considering Yediyurappa's age (77 years).

Though the state BJP has rejected such speculation outright, it refuses to die down, with some within the party like senior MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal giving credence to it with their statements. Siddaramaiah has repeatedly claimed that the ruling BJP will change its Chief Minister. Basing his claims on information from sources in Delhi, the former Chief Minister had earlier said that talks have been going on for long within the BJP to replace Yediyurappa. PTI