Siddaramaiah allocates portfolios, retains Finance

Bengaluru, Jun 21: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has retained the departments of Finance and Information as he allocated portfolios today following the major ministry reshuffle which has set off discontent within the ruling party.

Siddaramaiah is also holding Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Housing, among others. Among the new Ministers inducted with cabinet rank, former Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa has been given Revenue, Tanveer Sait Education and Minority Welfare, S S Mallikarjun Horticulture and Agri Marketing, Ramesh Kumar Health and Family Welfare, Ramesh Jarkiholi Small Scale Industries and Seetharam Planning, Statistics and Science & Technology.

Santosh Lad has been allotted Labour, while Higher Education has been given to Basavaraj Raya Reddy and Excise to H Y Meti. Among the Ministers of State, Priyank Kharge has been given IT, BT and Tourism, while Rudrappa Lamani gets Textile and Muzrai and Eshwar Khandre Local Bodies and Youth Services. Fisheries has been to allocated to Pramod Madhwaraj.

Governor Vajubhai Vala issued a notification on the allocation of portfolios to Ministers as per the advice of the Chief Minister. Portfolios held by some ministers were also changed or additional departments given. R V Deshpande along with Large and Medium scale industries has been given Infrastructure development and T B Jayachandra along with Law and Parliamentary Affairs will have Minor Irrigation.

U T Khader has been shifted to Food and Civil Supplies from Health and Roshan Baig to City Corporations from Information. Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil have been elevated to cabinet rank.

In a major revamp, the Chief Minister had dropped 14 ministers and inducted 13 others on Sunday. Resentment is brewing within Congress after the reshuffle, with several dropped Ministers and those who were aspiring to join the cabinet openly expressing their unhappiness against the party leadership. Dropped from the Ministry, Ambareesh who served as Housing Minister has resigned as MLA.

PTI