New Delhi, 22 July

With the Congress central leadership occupied with the students' protest in the capital, the much-awaited expansion of the Karnataka cabinet has been delayed further.

Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and predecessor Siddaramaiah were unable to finalise the list of probable ministers with the Congress high command on Tuesday.

The two leaders, along with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president B K Hariprasad, had travelled to Delhi for the meeting. However, the discussion could not take place as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with several MPs took part on Tuesday in a dharna outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence over the police action against protesting students.

"Senior leaders have been asked to come again for the discussion on Saturday or Sunday. The list may be finalised then, and the swearing-in will be next week," PWD Minister Satish Jarkihole told reporters here.

He added that the discussion could not take place "due to the protest held in the interest of the country."

Talks are also on for creating two posts of deputy chief ministers to represent the Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Lingayat communities.

"We have heard about this, but the final decision is to be taken by the senior leaders," Jarkihole said, adding that he had not personally demanded a deputy chief minister's post from the ST community.

Before leaving for Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah held a breakfast meeting in Delhi with a few legislators, including Basavaraj Rayareddy, Ashok Pattan, Rajendra Rajanna, Basavaraj Shivannavar and Tejaswini Gowda, among other state Congress leaders.

Asked about his next visit to the national capital, Siddaramaiah said the decision rested with the Congress high command.

Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Hariprasad flew back to Bengaluru on a private flight after the meeting fell through.

Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav led a sit-in outside the PM's residence demanding Modi's resignation over Monday's police action against protesting students.

The chief ministers of Karnataka and Kerala, along with several MPs, joined the dharna, which began around 3.30 pm after Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi visited injured students at a hospital.

Rahul Gandhi was detained and released later on Tuesday night.

Preliminary talks were held last week, but the list could not be finalised after AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge had to leave for Bengaluru on urgent work.

"The discussions have just started... very soon there will be an expansion of the Karnataka cabinet," AICC in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala had said after that round.

The reshuffle is also expected to address the vacant assembly speaker's post as it fell vacant after U T Khader took over as health minister and the vacancy of deputy chairperson of the Legislative Council.

Surjewala had said selection of probable candidates would factor in caste, religion and regional representation, with young leaders likely to get priority. A woman minister is also expected to be inducted, as the cabinet currently has no woman member.

With Delhi visits piling up and Kharge yet to take stock of the state unit's list, sources said the leadership faces mounting pressure to manage competing claims from aspirants.