Karnataka Cabinet Expansion: 24 Newly Elected MLAs Take Oath As Ministers

H K Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, H C Mahadevappa, Karnataka Congress Working President Eshwar Khandre and former state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao are among those who took oath as Ministers in Siddaramaiah cabinet on Saturday.

The cabinet expansion took place a week after Congress assumed power in Karnataka. Apart from the aforementioned names, 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 Nagendra took oath as ministers today.

On Friday, the high command gave a nod to the list after taking the caste and other equations into consideration. The names of the 24 MLAs were decided after hours of hectic deliberations between Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and the top central leaders, including AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.

Last Saturday, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar took oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers, respectively.

Among the ministers sworn in were Priyank Kharge, Dr G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy, K J George and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.

In the new list, there are six Lingayats, four Vokkaligas, three MLAs from SC, two from ST and five from Other Backward Communities -- Kuruba, Raju, Maratha, Ediga and Mogaveera. Dinesh Gundu Rao is the sole Brahmin face in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.

Notably, the Congress has made seven ministers from the Old Mysuru region as the party came out with flying colours in this part. Also, six MLAs are from the Kittur Karnataka region and two are from the central Karnataka.

A statement from the party said that it has struck a balance by giving caste and region-wise representation along with giving due respect to senior as well as junior MLAs, PTI reported.

However, the portfolios have not been allotted yet and it might be announced by Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, the supporters of Congress leader Rudrappa Lamani staged a protest outside Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office demanding a ministerial post for him.Rudrappa Lamani had defeated the BJP candidate Gavisiddappa Dyamannavar by 11,915 votes in the recently-held polls.

"Our banjara community leader Rudrappa Lamani's name was there on the list till last night, but today we saw that his name was not there on the list. If our leader will not get the Ministerial post, we will protest against this because we gave our 75 per cent vote to Congress in the election, so there should be at least one leader from our community," ANI quoted a supporter as saying.