BSY may go for minor reshuffle

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is mulling a minor ministry reshuffle by dropping an incumbent to accommodate a former Congress legislator, who had joined the BJP on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources close to Yeddyurappa said the ministry might be recast on June 18 by inducting V Somanna, a former minister, who quit his assembly membership from a Bangalore constituency to join BJP. Minister for Housing S N Krishnaiah Shetty is likely to resign to pave way for Somanna's induction as there are no vacant berths in the Yeddyurappa ministry, which has reached the maximum constitutionally permissible size of 34 for the state.

Sources said the Chief Minister also plans to effect changes in portfolios of some ministers. The move has come amid reports of dissidence in the Karnataka unit of BJP. Energy minister Eshwarappa and some other ministers have been up in arms against Yeddyurappa's style of functioning, which had prompted party's central leadership to send senior leader Arun Jaitley on a damage control mission here last week.