BENGALURU:
A week after assuming power, the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah carried out the cabinet expansion by inducting 24 legislators who sworn in as ministers on Saturday.
The Karnataka government can have 34 ministers. Ten of them, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, were sworn in on May 20. According to the Chief Minister’s office, the swearing-in took place at 11.45 AM inside the Raj Bhavan. Security has been stepped up in and around the Raj Bhavan in view of the crowd that would gather to witness the ceremony.
MLAs H K Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, H C Mahadevappa, Congress working president Eshwar Khandre and former state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao are among those who will take oath on Saturday noon. Others in the list are: Kyathasandra N Rajanna, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, Ramappa Balappa Timmapur, S S Mallikarjun, Shivaraj Sangappa Tangadagi, Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Rahim Khan, D Sudhakar, Santosh Lad, N S Boseraju, Suresha B S, Madhu Bangarappa, M C Sudhakar and B Nagendra.
Laxmi Hebbalkar, Madhu Bangarappa, D Sudhakar, Cheluvaraya Swami, Mankul Vaidya and M C Sudhakar are close to Shivakumar, according to Congress sources. The Congress’ list figures names of six Lingayats and four Vokkaligas. Three MLAs are from Scheduled Castes, two from Scheduled Tribes and five from Other Backward Communities — Kuruba, Raju, Maratha, Ediga and Mogaveera.
