The much-anticipated expansion of Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s Cabinet is set to take place today, with the final list of ministerial candidates having received Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s official approval.
There are 20 names on the list. It was shared with CM Shivakumar following a meeting between Kharge and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. As per protocol, the Chief Minister has to share it with the Governor, Thaawar Chand Gehlot, before the ministerial hopefuls can be administered the oath.
The list contains the following names:
1. PM Narendraswamy
2. Shivaraj Tangadagi
3. Rudrappa Lamani
4. KS Basavanthappa
5. B Nagendra
6. T Raghumoorthy
7. BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan
8. Rizwan Arshad
9. Santosh Lad
10. Bangarappa
11. Putturangashetty
12. Mankala Vaidya
13. Ajay Singh
14. N Chaluvaraya Swamy
15. KM Shivalinge Gowda
16. HC Balakrishna
17. Gayathri Shanthegowda
18. Basvaraj Rayareddi
19. Vijayanand Kashappanavar
20. Laxman Savadi
The swearing-in ceremony for the ministerial candidates is likely to be held at 4 pm. Earlier, a report by PTI said the Congress leadership was carefully assessing caste, religious and regional equations while finalising the list.
Sources cited by the news agency said the party leadership was attempting to strike a balance among various social groups and regions.
The pending Cabinet expansion was earlier expected to take place on Friday, July 31, but the schedule was pushed back following discussions by the party leadership in Delhi, per the report.
It has been under discussion for several weeks after Shivakumar assumed office as the CM on June 3. At present, Karnataka has 14 ministers, including the chief minister, against the maximum allowed strength of 34, leaving 20 vacancies in the council of ministers.
Besides Kharge, Gandhi and CM Shivakumar, ex-CM Siddaramaiah, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Congress Karnataka president BK Hariprasad were also involved in the deliberations for the Cabinet expansion, according to PTI.
– Ends
(With inputs from PTI)
