The Congress party has announced the expansion of the Karnataka 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, including P.M. Narendraswamy, Rizwan Arshad, Dr. Ajay Singh, T Raghumurthy, H.C. Balakrishna, K.S. Basavanthappa, K.M. Shivalinge Gowda, Vijayanand Kashappanavar, Rudrappa Lamani, and A.V. Gayatri Shanthegowda.
Seven Ministers from former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s team will be back in the Cabinet. Among them are Santhosh Lad, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Madhu Bangarappa, S. S. Mallikarjun, N. Cheluvaraya Swamy, and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan. B. Nagendra, who had resigned from Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet after his name surfaced in the multi-crore financial scam in Valmiki Development Corporation, has made a comeback.
The new ministers will be sworn in at 4.05 PM at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru. Ms. Shanthegowda, who is yet to take oath as a member of the Council, will be the lone woman in the 34-member 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.
The Congress has named four-time MLA G.S. Patil and first-time legislator A.S. Ponnanna for the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Senior leader and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed and former Minister S. Umashree have been named for the post of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, respectively, in the Karnataka Legislative Council.
Laxman Savadi, a Lingayat leader from Belagavi district, 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. Two former Ministers, who had served under Mr. Siddaramaiah in his first term between 2013-18 — Basavaraj Rayareddi and Puttarangashetty — have been named in the list.
The 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.
