Karnataka Cabinet expansion: According to sources, 25 ministers will be inducted into Congress government in Karnataka as the party finalised the names of new ministers on Thursday night. The new ministers will take oath on Saturday (May 27), they said.
Series of meetings over Cabinet expansion
Top Congress leaders on Thursday held discussions with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar over expansion of the state Cabinet. Both the leaders met Congress general secretary in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala and the party's general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal. They then held meetings with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge separately at his residence.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar along with Surjewala then held a meeting at the party's Gurudwara Rakabganj Road office and discussed the names that could be included in the expanded Cabinet of the state. Sources said around 20 more ministers are likely to be inducted in the Karnataka Cabinet.
Shivakumar had landed in the national capital on Wednesday evening while Siddaramaiah arrived later in the night. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were sworn in as Karnataka chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively along with eight cabinet ministers on May 20. However, the ministers have not yet been allocated their portfolios. The Congress high command approved the first list of eight ministers against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of around 28 legislators into the cabinet.
Sources said the names of only those MLAs were cleared who represented all sections and were senior-most and there were no objections from any side over the choice.
Differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are emerging over names of probable ministers with both pushing the case of MLAs close to them. Karnataka can have a maximum of 34 ministers and the Congress will find it difficult to accommodate all the aspirants.
