PTI, BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today expanded his 15-day-old Cabinet, inducting 25 new ministers after intense bargaining for ministerial berths, in a much-awaited exercise that caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the JDS-Congress coalition.
Those inducted into the nascent coalition government included 14 lawmakers from the Congress, nine of Kumaraswamy’s JDS, and one each of the BSP and Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. The BSP is a pre-poll ally of the JDS, while the newly formed KPJP MLA has extended support to the coalition. Governor Vajubhai administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers, all of whom are of the Cabinet rank, at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
Several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including M B Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, H K Patil, Shyamnur Shivashankarappa, Tanvir Sait and Satish Jarkhiholi, were dropped. After today’s expansion there are six vacant ministerial positions left for the Congress and one for the JDS.
Kumaraswamy was sworn in as chief minister and G Parameshwara of the Congress his deputy on May 23. The new coalition government had proved its majority on the floor of the Assembly on May 25 after the 104-member BJP, the single largest party in the House, did not press for a vote and walked out.
