BJP's 12 winners to be made ministers, says Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Buoyed by a landslide victory in 12 of the 15 Assembly by-elections held on December 5, an elated Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday declared that all the winning party candidates would be made ministers in the ensuing cabinet expansion soon.

"As I have assured them, all the 12 BJP candidates who won from their Assembly segments will be given cabinet posts soon. I am grateful to the people for having elected them as they sacrificed their seats to save democracy in the state," Yediyurappa told reporters in Kannada.

The ruling party wrested 10 seats from the Congress and two from the Janata Dal-Secular in the bitterly-fought by-elections.

The Congress could retain only Shivajinagar in Bengaluru central but wrested Hunasuru in Mysuru district from the JDS-S, which drew blank.

"I am thankful to the electorate for reposing their faith in the BJP government and ensuring its continuation in the state for the remaining term of the Assembly. We will focus on the development of the state with a stable government," said Yediyurappa, who returned to power on July 26 for the third time in over a decade.

In the first cabinet expansion in August, Yediyurappa inducted 16 ministers, including three Deputy Chief Ministers and kept the remaining 17 posts vacant, ostensibly to reward the Congress and JD-S defectors who joined the BJP on November 14 and contested to retain their seats on the lotus symbol.

Independent Sharath Kumar Bachegowda won the Hosakote seat in the Bengaluru Rural district, defeating BJP's M.T.B. Nagaraj, who defected from the Congress and declared a whopping Rs 1,230-crore worth assets in his poll affidavit.

"I will visit New Delhi soon to discuss the cabinet expansion with party's national president Amit Shah and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support to the party's state unit in the by-elections," added Yediyurappa.