BENGALURU: After much delay, portfolio allocation in Karnataka was completed on Saturday morning. Much like his predecessor BS Yediyurappa, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai retained the coveted Bengaluru development portfolio along with Finance, DPAR, and all unallocated portfolios.
In a big push for a debutante minister Araga Jnanendra has been given the Home Ministry- the portfolio previously held by Bommai himself. Many of the ministers retained from BS Yediyurappa's council of ministers have been allowed to retain their previous portfolios while some have been reshuffled. Former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol has been reassigned the portfolio of Major and Medium Irrigation while KS Eshwarappa and R Ashok will continue to hold the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and Revenue portfolios respectively. While V Somanna will retain the Housing portfolio, B Sriramulu has been given charge of Transport along with the newly created ST Welfare Wepartment.
Murugesh Nirani, who lost out on the Chief Minister's race has been given the coveted Large and Medium scale industries portfolio. Nirani himself is a successful industrialist and is said to have lobbied hard for the portfolio. Former Deputy Chief Minister DR CN Ashwathnarayana will retain his Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology and Skill development portfolio while Umesh Katti has been given Food and Civil Supplies and Forest portfolio.
A Angara has been given Fisheries and in-land Transport and Ports portfolio while JC Madhuswamy has been allowed to retain Minor Irrigation portfolio that is close to his heart along with the additional charge of Law and parliamentary affairs. CC Patil has been given the heavyweight Public Works Department and Anand Singh will continue with Ecology, Environment, and Tourism portfolio.
Kota Srinivas Poojari's portfolio has been bumped up with Social welfare and Backward classes welfare. Prabhu Chauhan will also continue to hold Animal Husbandry portfolio. Shivaram Hebbar, ST Somashekhar, BC Patil, Byrati BA Basavaraj, K Sudhakar- all newcomers to BJP after they quit the JDS-Congress coalition in 2019- will retain their former portfolios of Labour, Cooperation, Urband Development, Health and medical education respectively. K Gopalaiah has been given the Excise portfolio.
The lone woman minister in the cabinet- Shahsikala Jolle- has been given Muzrai, Haj, and Wakf portfolios. Women and Child welfare departments that she previously held has been taken away from her perhaps owing to allegations of corruption in an eggs procurement tender that is pending an inquiry.
N Nagaraj (MTB) has been given Municipal Administration, Small scale industries, and Public sector industries. Narayanagowda will be minister for Sericulture, Youth empowerment, and Sports while debutante minister BC Nagesh- who replaced Suresh Kumar in the cabinet- has been given his predecessor's portfolio- Primary and Secondary Education.
Another debutante minister V Sunil Kumar has been given the powerful Energy portfolio along with Kannada and Culture. Halappa Achar will be minister for Mines and Geology, Women and Child Development portfolios. Shankar Patil Munekoppa will be minister for handlooms, textiles, and Sugar while Muniratna will be minister for horticulture, statistics, and planning.