Mangaluru, Aug 21, 2019: The cabinet expansion of the B S Yediyurappa led BJP government in the state, has led to disgruntlement among several aspirants for ministerial berths prominently S Angara, MLA of Sullia and Halady Srinivas Shetty, MLA of Kundapur. There is a growing resentment that the party was neglecting its dedicated soldiers.
Halady who is a five time MLA from Kundapur had lost the ministerial position in the last minute in 2008 following which he had quit the BJP and contested as an independent in 2013 resulting in a thumping win.
However during the 2018 assembly election he had rejoined the BJP and contested from the party registering a fifth win. Halady being a prominent member of the Bunt community, not including him in the cabinet has led to anguish among his Bunt community.
Even S Angara, a six time MLA from Sullia has been deprived of a cabinet berth. So is the case of three time Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar.
Sources revealed that MLA Angara was almost certain of a cabinet berth that over 300 supporters and family members had left for Bengaluru. But when they got the news that Angara’s name was not in the list of ministers, all of them decided to stay back in Mysuru instead of Bengaluru.
The Sullia unit of BJP has convened a meeting today to discuss the issue.