Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet at full strength after 24 more ministers sworn in

BENGALURU: The newly formed Congress government on Saturday attained the full strength of the ministry with 24 legislators being sworn in as ministers at the Glass House at Raj Bhavan on Saturday.

With this, the Siddaramaiah Cabinet has attained its full strength of 34 ministers, including the CM and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar. Laxmi Hebbalkar is the lone woman in the Cabinet. All the ministers will now have to be allotted portfolios.

H K Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh being administered oath of office.

H K Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, H C Mahadevappa, Eshwar Khandre, K N Rajanna, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, R B Timmapur, S S Mallikarjun, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Sharan Prakash Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi R Hebbalkar, Rahim Khan, D Sudhakar, Santosh Lad, N S Boseraju, Byrathi Suresh, Madhu Bangarappa, M C Sudhakar and B Nagendra were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.

H C Mahadevappa, Eshwar Khandre, K N Rajanna, Dinesh Gundu Rao being sworn in as ministers in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.

After more than two days of deliberations involving Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala and K C Venugopal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar in New Delhi, the party on Friday night announced the names of legislators who were to be sworn in as ministers.

Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, R B Timmapur, S S Mallikarjun take oath.

Hectic preparations for the swearing-in ceremony were under way right from late afternoon on Friday. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar returned from Delhi on Friday after meeting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party leader Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at 10, Janpath.

Shivaraj Tangadagi, Sharan Prakash Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi R Hebbalkar being administered oath of office.

On the concluding day of the three-day Assembly session on May 24, Ullal MLA U T Khader was unanimously elected as Speaker of the Assembly. He is the first member from the Muslim community to hold the post of Speaker. On Friday, the Congress announced that C Puttarangashetty, who was a ministerial aspirant, has been appointed as the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

Rahim Khan, D Sudhakar, Santosh Lad, N S Boseraju being sworn in as ministers.

Chief Minister and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah had proposed the name of U T Khader for the post of Speaker and it was seconded by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar. Khader was the lone candidate who had filed his nomination for the post.

Byrathi Suresh, Madhu Bangarappa, M C Sudhakar and B Nagendra were administered the oath of office.

Siddaramaiah was elected unanimously as the Congress legislature party leader in on May 18, after the Congress party finalised its CM candidate after days of deliberation following a landslide victory in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah took oath as Chief Minister on May 20, along with D K Shivakumar who took oath as his deputy, and eight other ministers.