Bengaluru, Feb 2 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Today said that he would visit New Delhi on February 7 to discuss matters concerning the state, but ducked questions on cabinet expansion. “I had plans to go to Delhi tomorrow to meet MPs from the state, but on their request, I will go on Monday. It is a party tradition to meet MPs from the state before presenting state budget. I am also meet the legal experts and discuss with them issues concerning river water disputes,” he told reporters here. Asked about possible deliberations on cabinet expansion with BJP central leadership during his visit to Delhi, Bommai said he does not want to talk about it in public. Of late, the BJP MLAs including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and CM’s political Secretary MP Renukacharya have been pushing for an early expansion of the cabinet. There are four vacant posts in Bommai’s cabinet. The aspirant MLAs argued that the cabinet expansion should be taken up now, otherwise it would not have any meaning if it is delayed, because 2023 assembly elections are fast approaching. “At that point of time, most of the leaders will be busy with election campaigning, and the new ministers will not have any opportunity to make their mark,” they argued. Yatnal is expecting a Gujarat-type cabinet haul-up in Karnataka after the decline of Covid cases in the state. Bommai had repeatedly said that is awaiting BJP leadership’s nod to go ahead with the cabinet expansion. (UNI)