The Congress government in Karnataka is all set to get its second expansion with the swearing-in ceremony of close to two dozen Ministers on Saturday at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
After several rounds of talks with party’s Central leaders for the last two days in New Delhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar have reportedly ironed out differences and reached consensus on names of MLAs to be sworn-in as Ministers and allocation of portfolios to them.
Accusation and counter
On Saturday last, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar and eight Ministers had taken oath in the first round. However, there has been no allocation of portfolios till now, which has drawn flak from the BJP. The Congress has countered it making a reference to the weeks during the 2019 floods when the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was the only Minister in the Cabinet.
If 24 Ministers take oath on Saturday, then the Cabinet will reach its full strength of 34.
Earlier in the day on Friday, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar held another round of talks with AICC chief M. Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s residence and with Congress general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal and Karnataka in-charge general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala at the party office.
Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar had a photoshoot with former AICC presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The drawing up of the Minister’s list and allocation of portfolios have become a daunting task for the Congress given the need to balance region-wise and represent various communities.
Probable names
According to sources, a probable list of MLAs to be inducted into the Cabinet are: Eshwar Khandre, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Shivananda Patil, H.C. Mahadevappa, S.S. Mallikarjun, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Periyapatna Venkatesh, Byrathi Suresh, Krishna Byre Gowda, Rahim Khan, Puttaranga Shetty, H.K. Patil, N. Cheluvarayaswamy, K.N. Rajanna, Santosh Lad, Madhu Bangarappa, Shivaraj Tangadagi, R.B. Thimmapura, Rudrappa Lamani, Sharan Prakash Patil, and B. Nagendra.
If Ms. Hebbalkar, Mr. Venkatesh, Mr. Byrathi Suresh, Mr. Madhu Bangarappa, Mr. Mankal Vaidya, and Mr. Nagendra are inducted, they will become Ministers for the first time.
As a large chunk of berths will go to the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities, sources indicated that the Cabinet will have representation for Kuruba, Idiga, Reddy Lingayat, Bhovi and SC/ST communities too.
Still uncertain
Sources said talks are still on on induction of senior leader and MLC B.K. Hariprasad into the ministry and reports indicated Mr. Kharge was in favour of the MLC’s induction in the Cabinet. Former KPCC president and six-time MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao called on Mr. Kharge and apparently appealed to the latter to consider his name for the ministerial post in the Siddaramaiah-led government.
The Cabinet exercise would be undertaken keeping an eye on the next year’s Lok Sabha polls, sources said.
