BENGALURU: The much awaited Karnataka cabinet expansion will take place on Monday as the Congress party High Command including LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, which met in Delhi on Monday morning cleared the list of twenty MLAs to be sworn in as ministers.
Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot will administer oath to the new ministers at the Glass House of Lok Bhavan at 4.05 p.m.
Chief Minister D K Shivakumar who took oath on June 3 along with 13 ministers will now have a full fledged cabinet of 33 minsters.
Former minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chamrajpet MLA, who had miss the bus in the first phase owing to his alleged anti party activities in the bypolls to Davangere South assembly has managed to make a come back as the high command especially K C Venugopal considered his contribution to the party in the Keralam assembly polls.
Another former minister B Nagendra, Ballari rural MLA, who made an exist from the previous Siddaramaiah cabinet due to his alleged involvement in the multi crore Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation scam also made a come back.
In a surprise Chikkamagaluru MLC AV Gayathri Shanthegowda, a kuruba, and a close associate of Siddaramaiah, will become minister. She has recently won the legal battle against M K Pranesh, who had declared elected against her in the polls from Chikkamagaluru local bodies of BJP.She got rewarded. The prominent among the legislators who will become ministers are Jewargi MLA Ajay Singh, son of former CM N Dharam Singh, and former DCM Lakshman Savadi who had switched to Congress from BJP ahead of 2023 assembly polls. Similarly Arasikere MLA K M Shivalinge Gowda who has switched dlrm JD(S) also made a cut into the cabinet.
The MLAs Madhu Bangarappa, Mankala Vaidya, Santhosh Lad and N Chaluvaraya Swamy who were in the Siddaramiah regime will again become ministers.
Prominent among those who missed the bus include former ministers Lakshmi Hebbalkar, H K Patil, Dr MC Sudhakar and Dr H C Mahadevappa.
Even as the party high command managed to strike a balance to give representation to communities and regions Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts have no representation. It will affect the party's prospects in the future, said Bangarpet MLA S N Narayanaswamy who had emerged as a strong contender for the cabinet berth but missed the opportunity at the last minute.
The list of ministers;
1. PM Narendraswamy(Malavalli)
2. Shivaraj Thangadagi (Kanakagiri)
3. Rudrappa Lamani (Haveri)
4. KS Basavanthappa (Mayakonda)
5. B Nagendra (Ballari rural)
6. Raghumurthy(Challakere)
7. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Chamarajpet)
8. Rizwan Arshad(Shivajinagar)
9. Santhosh Lad (Kalaghatagi)
10. Madhu Bangarappa (Soraba)
11. Puttrangashetty(Chamarajanagara)
12. Mankal Vaidya (Bhatkal)
13. Ajay Singh (Jevargi)
14. N Chaluvaraya Swamy(Nagamangala)
15. K M Shivalinge Gowda (Arasikere)
16. HC Balakrishna (Magadi)
17. Basavraj Rayareddi(Yelaburga)
18. Gayathri Shanthegowda(Chikkamagaluru MLC)
19. Vijayanand Kashnappanavar(Bagalakote)
20. Lakshman Savadi(Athani)
According to sources, Ron MLA from Gadag district G S Patil has been chosen for the Assembly Speaker's post and Virajpet MLA A S Ponnanna for deputy speaker post,
Similarly Saleem Ahmed will be appointed as Council chairman and Umashri as deputy chairperson.
Former CM Siddaramiah seemingly have an upper hand in the expansion as at least five of his loyalists including his former economic adviser Basavaraja Rayaraddi, P M Narendraswamy, B Nagendra and Gayathri Shanthegowda made it to the cabinet.
