Trouble mounts for Yediyurappa after shuffling Cabinet portfolios

Hours after he shuffled his cabinet to allocate portfolios to newly inducted ministers, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa faced a backlash on Thursday from both the old guard and the new entrants, leaving the 77-yearold seemingly isolated.

The new ministers as well as those who were divested of key portfolios hit back at the chief minister. The CM inducted

BENGALURU:

seven ministers into his cabinet on January 13.

At least three ministers — N Nagaraju, K Gopalaiah and KC Narayana Gowda — met at health minister K Sudhakar’s residence and later called on Yediyurappa to express their anger at the distribution of portfolios. “There isn’t much I can do in the excise department... I have conveyed this to the CM,” Nagaraju said.

Yediyurappa, revenue minister R Ashok and home minister Basavaraj Bommai, among others, swung into damage control mode. “There is no difference of opinion among the new ministers,” Yediyurappa claimed.

Many of the ministers unhappy with the changes did not attend a cabinet meeting on Thursday, people familiar with the developments said.

With no backing from the central leadership of the BJP, Yediyurappa now finds himself confronting a burst of dissidence that has the potential to end his term well ahead of the end of his tenure.