Congress names 10 new faces in Karnataka Cabinet expansion, scam accused is back
Two months after D.K. Shivakumar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka, along with 13 Cabinet Ministers, the Congress party announced expansion of the
Two months after D.K. Shivakumar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka, along with 13 Cabinet Ministers, the Congress party announced expansion of the Cabinet with a list of 20 legislators to be sworn in on August 3. The expanded ministry will have as many as 10 new faces. Seven Ministers from former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s team will be back in the Cabinet. While there was speculation of at least two berths being kept vacant, the party has decided to fill up the entire Cabinet quota. Party sources said that the list underwent many changes before the names were released on August 3 morning. In a twist to the Cabinet expansion, though AICC released the list in the morning, the list was revised by afternoon. The change — removal of the name of Mankal Vaidya and adding that of S.S. Mallikarjun. The new ministers will be sworn in at 4.05 PM at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru.
The new names The first-timers in the Cabinet include P.M. Narendraswamy (Dalit Right), Rizwan Arshad (Muslim), Dr. Ajay Singh (OBC and son of former chief minister N. Dharam Singh), T Raghumurthy (ST), H.C. Balakrishna (Vokkaliga), K.S. Basavanthappa (Dalit Left), K.M. Shivalinge Gowda (Vokkaliga), Vijayanand Kashappanavar (Panchamshali Lingayat), Rudrappa Lamani (Banjara – SC), and A.V. Gayatri Shanthegowda (Vokkaliga). Shanthegowda’s petition against the election of M.K. Pranaesh, who resigned as Deputy Chairperson of the Council, from Chikkamagaluru Local Authorities’ constituency in the Legislative Council in 2022 led to segregation of votes of nominated members in which she was found to have won the election. The Supreme Court also upheld that nominated members do not have the voting power. Shanthegowda, who is yet to take oath as member of the Council, will be the lone woman in the 34-member Cabinet. Valmiki development corporation scam accused is back B. Nagendra (ST), who had resigned from former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet after his name surfaced in the multi-crore financial scam in Valmiki Development Corporation and was later arrested, has made a comeback.
Among others returning to the Cabinet from Mr. Siddaramaiah’s team are Santhosh Lad (OBC), Shivaraj Tangadagi (Bhovi), Madhu Bangarappa (OBC), S. S. Mallikarjun (Lingayat), N. Cheluvaraya Swamy (Vokkaliga), and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Muslim). Two former Ministers, who had served under Mr. Siddaramaiah in his first term between 2013-18 — Basavaraj Rayareddi (Lingayat) and Puttarangashetty (OBC) — have been named in the list. A Lingayat leader from Belagavi district Laxman Savadi (Lingayat), who had served as Deputy CM during the BJP government under B.S. Yediyurappa between 2019 and 2021, is set to be inducted in the Cabinet. Prominent leaders from Mr. Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet who have missed out are H.K. Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, N.S. Boseraju, Mankala Vaidya, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, and R.B. Thimmapur. For the post of Speaker and Chairperson The Congress has named four-time MLA G.S. Patil and first-time legislator A.S. Ponnanna, who was legal advisor to Mr. Siddaramaiah, for the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
The BriefWire