Bangalore: As pressure from minsterial aspirants mounted in the ruling Congress, senior party leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said it was the prerogative of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to expand his ministry and the AICC does not intefere in it.
After a meeting of the state Congress coordination committee attended by Siddarmaiah and KPCC President G Parameshwara, Singh told reporters, "Cabinet expansion is the right of a Chief Minister where AICC doesn't interfere."
Getting a booster from the Assembly bypolls outcome which saw Congress win two of the three seats, including wresting one from BJP, Siddaramaiah had yesterday said he would expand his cabinet after talking to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Siddaramaiah has been under pressure to reshuffle and expand his ministry with the KPCC chief reportedly eyeing the Deputy Chief Minister's post.
On creation of Deputy Chief Minister's post, Singh said "That is the prerogative of the Chief Minister... This is something that the Chief Minister and AICC President will look into."
Several legislators looking for a ministerial berth met Singh, in charge of party affairs of Karnataka, and pleaded their case.
Singh also said rural local body elections were due in the state and the party has to gear up to fight them as "this is our next political challenge".
