Siddaramaiah keeps key departments, DK Shivakumar gets two

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, May 27

Members of the newly expanded Karnataka Cabinet, comprising 34 ministers, were assigned their portfolios on Saturday with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah keeping five ministries, including Finance, with himself.

His deputy DK Shivakumar has been assigned the ministries of Irrigation and Bengaluru Development.

24 new ministers | Finance with CM

• Besides Finance, the CM has kept the ministries of Cabinet Affairs, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information and other unallocated portfolios

Besides Finance, the CM has kept the ministries of Cabinet Affairs, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, and other unallocated portfolios. Senior Congress leader G Parameshwara, a Dalit who has remained the Deputy Chief Minister, has been given the Home Ministry while Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge has been given the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

HK Patil has been allotted Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Dinesh Gundu Rao has been given Health and Family Welfare and Krishna Bayre Gowda has been allotted Revenue (excluding Muzrai).

Laxmi Hebbalkar, the lone woman minister, has been given the portfolios of Women and Child Development, Disabled and Senior Citizen Empowerment, KJ George has been given Energy, Rahim Khan has been given Municipal Administration and Haj while Zameer Ahmed Khan has been given Housing, Waqf and Minorities.

The new Cabinet was expanded to its limit of 34 after the swearing-in of 24 ministers at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning. The CM and the Deputy CM and eight other members were sworn in last week.

“Congratulations to all newly appointed 24 Cabinet ministers of Karnataka! Nearly the entire state is represented, with a rainbow of different castes and religions. The Congress ministry has six SC ministers, three ST ministers, six OBC ministers, three Muslim minority (including the Speaker), one Christian, one Jain minority, seven Lingayats, two Reddys, five Vokkaligas and a Brahmin. They are educated, talented, experienced and an ideal mix of young and mature. The entire team of 34 is dedicated to serve Kannadigas,” Randeep Surjewala, Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, said. Nine ministers have no prior ministerial experience. The heavy presence of Lingayats is evidently an attempt to make a dent into the BJP’s support base.

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