Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday said that the Cabinet expansion will take place on February 6, with 13 MLAs taking oath of office as ministers.
"The cabinet expansion will take place on February 6 with the oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan at 10.30 AM," he told reporters in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Thirteen MLAs, including the 10 rebel MLAs who had joined the BJP from Congress and the JD(S), will take oath, he said.
The Cabinet expansion has been on the cards for nearly two months, ever since the BJP won the maximum number of seats in the December 5, 2019 bye-polls and got a majority in the Karnataka Assembly.
In the bye-elections held in December 2019, 12 BJP candidates won seats in 15 constituencies. Among the 12 winners, 11 candidates were former MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) who resigned and paved the way for the BJP to take power in the state in 2019. Arun Kumar, who won from the Ranebennur constituency, contested in place of R Shankar of the KPJP. Shankar had also resigned as an MLA in 2019.
This means that all rebel leaders, barring one, will be made a minister when the Cabinet expansion takes place. The Assembly session is set to begin in Karnataka on February 5.
The date for the Cabinet expansion was announced after Yediyurappa held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday.
Sources privy to the meeting stated that Amit Shah had cleared the list of BJP leaders recommended by Yediyurappa for a place in the Cabinet. The same was reiterated by Yediyurappa in a press conference on Saturday.