Siddaramaiah gets Sonia's nod, Karnataka Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday

More than three years after assuming office, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will effect a major reshuffle of his ministry on Sunday in a bid to refurbish administration with several ministers facing the axe.

The much talked about exercise is coming after the party high command gave the green signal to the chief minister who held intense confabulations with party President Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi since Friday.

"We discussed all names to be dropped and inducted with All India Congress Committee President and Vice President Sonia and Rahulji. We have convinced them. High Command has authorised me to go ahead with the reshuffle," Siddaramaiah told reporters in the national capital.

He said the list would be prepared in a day or two but later it was announced by the government that the revamp will take place on Sunday.

Before the meeting, Siddaramaiah discussed the matter with Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who reportedly had some reservations on some names.

The chief minister, according to party sources, is expected to remove about a dozen ministers and induct young legislators and senior Congress leaders to strike a balance of caste and regional factors.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara and Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh were also present in the meeting. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka in 2014, joined the deliberations later.

The exercise is coming in order to put the party on a sound footing two years before the assembly elections in Karnataka, which is the only major state where the Congress is ruling after being recently ejected out of power in Kerala and Assam.

The chief minister declined to state who would be dropped and the names of inductees.

With 34 ministers, the Karnataka ministry is up to its full strength as per the Constitutional limit.

Preparing the ground before the Assembly session next month, Siddaramaiah had on Wednesday sought cooperation from his council of Ministers.

Signaling that some ministers would have to take up party responsibility, the chief minister had said the cabinet reshuffle would be done keeping the next Assembly polls in mind.

The talk about the ministry reshuffle had been doing the rounds for long but various reasons like drought and elections to local bodies, Council and Rajya Sabha have been cited for its deferment.

With the talk about reshuffle gaining currency, several "like-minded" Congress MLAs have held meetings and sought dropping of "non-performing" ministers while some seeking ministerial berths for themselves.