BENGALURU: The Congress ministry in Karnataka was expanded on Saturday with 24 MLAs taking oath as ministers and the party seeking to give representation to various castes and groups.
The oath was administered by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
The new cabinet has six members from the Vokkaliga community, eight Lingayats, four from the Scheduled Castes, three Scheduled Tribes, two from the Muslim community and one from the Christian community. The Maratha and Brahmin community have also got representation.
Twenty-three MLAs took oath in Kannada while one took oath in English. While most MLAs took oath in the name of God, some took names of deities and revered figures.
With this cabinet expansion, the Congress government in Karnataka has reached the full strength of 34 ministers including the Chief Minister. N S Bosaraju, who took oath as the minister is neither MLA nor MLC and is considered a loyalist of Siddaramaiah.
However, senior leaders and former ministers like R V Deshpande, Basavaraja Rayareddy, T B Jayachandra, considered the followers of Siddaramaiah, could not find a place in the cabinet. Also, N A Harris, considered a loyalist of Shivakumar, also didn’t make it to the cabinet.
Members from Banjara community, which is considered to have supported Congress during the polls, did not found a place in the council of ministers. Rudrappa Lamani, a former minister and a leader from Banjara community, who was hopeful of finding a cabinet berth, did not make it. His supporters alleged that his name was in the list till last night, but did not make it to the final list.
HK Patil was the first to take the oath. Nagamangala MLA N Chaluvarayaswamy, a loyalist of Shivakumar, also took oath. Batarayanapura MLA Krishna Byregowda, who took oath as minister, was apparently upset after his name didn’t appear in the first list of ministers.
Senior politician and MLA from T Narasipur, HC Mahadevappa, is considered a close associate of Siddaramaiah and comes from the Old Mysore region. He served as PWD minister in Siddaramaiah’s cabinet from 2013-2018.
Among other experienced leaders who took the oath was Bhalki MLA Eshwar Khandre, who served as a minister earlier and is the working president of Karnataka Congress. Former minister and Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundurao and Shahapur MLA and former minister Sharanbasappa Darshanapur took oath of office. He served as a minister in 2006.
Kalaghatagi MLA Santosh Lad had also served as a minister earlier. Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh, considered a loyalist of Siddaramaiah, also took the oath of office.
Kanakagiri MLA Shivraja Thangadagi was the Minor Irrigation Minister and Sedam MLA Sharan Prakash Patil was Medical Education Minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government. Mudhol MLA RB Thimmapura earlier served as Minister of Excise, Sugar, Ports and Internal Irrigation.
Kyathanasandra N Rajanna (K N Rajanna) took oath in the name of Buddha, Basava, Ambedkar and Valmiki. He is an MLA from Madhugiri. Basavana Bagewadi MLA Shivananda Patil took oath in the name of Anna Basavanna. In 2018, he held a ministerial position in the H D Kumaraswamy cabinet.
Davangere North constituency MLA S S Mallikarjuna took oath in the name of Lord Kalleswara. He is the son of Shamanur Sivashankarappa, the seniormost member of the Legislative Assembly.
Bhatkal MLA Mankalu Vaidya became a minister for the first time. Among the new ministers, former CM Bangarappa’s son and MLA from Soraba, Madhu Bangarappa, comes from the Ediga community.
Bidar North Constituency MLA Rahim Khan took oath in English. He earlier worked as Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. Hiriyur MLA D Sudhakar took oath in the name of Lord Teru Malleshwara. He served as Social Welfare Minister in 2008. Others who were sworn in as ministers were Chintamani MLA MC Sudhakar and Bellary Rural MLA B Nagendra.
The Karnataka cabinet was expanded after the Chief Minister and Shivakumar held consultations with the party’s central leadership. (ANI)