A week after assuming power, the Congress Government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah carried out the Cabinet expansion by inducting 24 legislators who are being sworn in as Ministers on May 27.
The oathtaking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan is currently underway. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot is administering them oath of office and secrecy.
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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.
Security was stepped up in and around the Raj Bhavan in view of the crowd that gathered 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 took 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.
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Laxmi Hebbalkar, Madhu Bangarappa, D. Sudhakar, Cheluvaraya Swami, Mankul Vaidya and M.C. Sudhakar are close to Mr. 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.
The names of the 24 MLAs were decided after hours of hectic deliberations between Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Shivakumar and the top central leaders, including AICC general secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi gave the final nod to the list.
(With PTI inputs)
