On Saturday (May 27), Karnataka’s new cabinet was finalized when 24 Congress MLAs took their oath as ministers. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, and eight other ministers had taken an oath of office one week earlier.
The Congress released the names of 24 additional ministers, taking the cabinet’s strength to the maximum of 34, permitted by law. Amongst those that took their oath were Congress leaders HK Patil and Krishna Byregowda. Others included N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, HC Mahadevappa, Congress Working President Eshwar Khandre, and former state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
The new cabinet has six members from the Lingayat community, four from the Vokkaliga community, three from the Scheduled Castes, two from the Scheduled Tribes, and five from other backward classes. It holds representation from the Muslim, Jain, Brahmin, and Namdhari Reddy communities, and has one woman in it.
Rudrappa Lamani’s supporters were protesting outside the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office, asking for Lamani to be given a ministerial position in the state government.
Today’s announcement resulted from intense conversations between Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, and Congress leaders from Delhi, who labored to balance various regionally-based aspirations in a way that gave due credit to the Congress’s impressive win of 135 seats in the 224-member assembly.
To conclude, Karnataka on Saturday filled out its cabinet with 34 ministers from various backgrounds through careful negotiations. This well-rounded cabinet is thus reflective of Karnataka’s diverse population and culture.
