Shivalinge Gowda hopeful of becoming minister says he was promised while joining Cong

Hassan (Karnataka), May 17 (PTI) Congress MLA K M Shivalinge Gowda on Saturday expressed confidence about his induction into the Karnataka cabinet during the cabinet reshuffle, and said he was brought into the party from the JD(S) with the promise of a ministerial post.
    The four-time MLA from Arasikere said that the cabinet reshuffle is yet to happen, and he is hopeful that he will be made minister whenever it happens.
    There is pressure for a cabinet reshuffle within the ruling Congress, as the government completes two years in office.
    "I was brought to Congress from the JD(S) promising a minister post, there is nothing to hide in it. Siddaramaiah (Chief Minister) has told me that he will give me a minister post. He has said it before you (media) and everywhere at public meetings that he will give me the minister post after 2.5 years of this government," Gowda told reporters here.
    "He (CM) too has it in his mind to make me minister as I'm the only Congress MLA from Hassan district. To strengthen the party and take it forward, a minister post should be given. This is the political calculation. So I'm hopeful that whenever the high command approves cabinet reshuffle, I will be considered," he added.
    Gowda had quit the JD(S) and joined Congress ahead of 2023 Assembly polls.
    There has also been a demand from a section of MLAs, who are ministerial aspirants, to be inducted into the cabinet by effecting a rejig. Some of them, like Gowda, have openly expressed their wish to become ministers.
    The State Cabinet has not been reshuffled ever since the formation of the government in May 2023.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)