The new Congress government of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will expand its cabinet one week after taking office by appointing 24 new ministers on Saturday, May 27.
There will be 34 ministers in the Karnataka cabinet now. Ten of them were sworn in on May 20, including the chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar.
The Chief Minister’s office reported that the swearing-in is scheduled at the Raj Bhavan at 11.45 a.m. The Raj Bhavan’s security has been tightened in anticipation of the large audience that is expected to attend the ceremony.
On Saturday, those who will take the oath of office, include Congress working president Eshwar Khandre, former state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLAs H K Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, and H C Mahadevappa.
Kyathasandra N Rajanna, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, Ramappa Balappa Timmapur, S S Mallikarjun, Shivaraj Sangappa Tangadagi, Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Rahim Khan, D Sudhakar, Santosh Lad, N S Boseraju, Suresha B S, Madhu Bangarappa, M C Sudhakar and B Nagendraare are the other names on the list.
After hours of frantic discussion between the Karnataka chief minister, deputy chief minister, and the senior central party leaders, including All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, the names of the 24 MLAs were finalised.
The two Karnataka leaders had previously met Sonia Gandhi for the first time following the creation of the state’s administration. The list received final approval from former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and incumbent president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Siddaramaiah faction successfully lobbied for six of its allies to be included in the list while with seven legislators, the DK Shivakumar faction has a little edge over the former. The high command of Congress selected the remaining 11 ministers on the list.
Krishna Byregowda, K Venkatesh, Dinesh Gundu Rao, HC Mahadevappa, KN Rajanna, and Rahim Khan are seen as close to Siddaramaiah whereas DK Shivakumar group has Madhu Bangarappa, D Sudhakar, Cheluvarayaswamiy, Mankal Vaidya, MC Sudhakar, NS Boseraju, and Laxmi Hebbalkar.
Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar’s disagreements, which started over a few names, were settled after protracted conversations.
Afterward, the leaders departed from Delhi for Bengaluru to witness the swearing-in of the new ministers. Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, and Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, also left with them for the occasion on Saturday.
The portfolios have not yet been assigned and according to state minister K H Muniyappa, they would be announced by Saturday evening.
