BSYs capitulation complete as Shettar joins Ktka cabinet

Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa inducted former assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar into his 18-month-old ministry.

Implementing one more condition of the compromise formula reached with the dissident camp,Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa inducted former assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar into his 18-month-old ministry.

Shettar,who had emerged the rallying point for the dissidents demanding the removal of Yeddyurappa before the BJP central leadership brought about a truce,was inducted as a cabinet rank minister,raising the size of the ministry to 33.

54-year-old Shettar,a prominent leader from North Karnataka,was administered oath of office and secrecy at the Glass House in Raj Bhavan by Governor H R Bhardwaj.

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Besides Yeddyurappa,his cabinet colleagues and top officials were present on the occasion.

Several top officials,including V P Baligar,who was the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary,have already been shifted and Shobha Karandlaje made to resign as minister by Yeddyurappa to fulfil the conditions of the compromise formula.

Mollifying the dissidents,Yeddyurappa has re-instated officials who were confidants of rebel leaders Tourism Minister B Janardhana Reddy and his brother Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy after they were shunted out by him last month to take on the mining magnates from Bellary district.

Shettar,who quit the speaker’s post yesterday to join the ministry,arrived at Raj Bhavan flanked by the Reddy brothers and their confidante Health Minister B Sreeramulu.

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For Shettar,who hails from the numerically strong Lingayat community to which Yeddyurappa also belongs,it is the second stint as minister after serving in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.