The Karnataka Cabinet was expanded on Saturday as 24 more ministers were inducted into the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led council of ministers. With this, the Congress aims to balance caste and regional equations through its choice of ministers. The Karnataka government can have a maximum of 34 ministers. Last week, 10 ministers, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, were sworn-in in a ceremony that turned out to be a platform for the Opposition to show unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Among those inducted are senior MLA HK Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N Cheluvarayaswamy, K Venkatesh, Dr HC Mahadevappa, Congress working president Eshwar Khandre and former Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
Others who made it to the Karnataka Cabinet are Kyathasandra N Rajanna, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, Ramappa Balappa Timmapur, S S Mallikarjun, Shivaraj Sangappa Tangadagi, Dr Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Rahim Khan, D Sudhakar, Santosh Lad, N S Boseraju, Suresha BS, former CM S Bangarappa's son Madhu Bangarappa, Dr MC Sudhakar, and B Nagendra.
Congress finalised the list after two days of hectic deliberations among Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala. The two Karnataka leaders were camping in the national capital for the last three days and held several rounds of discussions before announcing the list of ministers.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi gave their final nod to the list of names. Even though differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had erupted over names of probable ministers, they were ironed out during the deliberations in the capital. The two leaders also met Sonia Gandhi.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren are likely to be present for Saturday's event. While portfolios have not been decided yet, minister KH Muniyappa said it would be announced by Saturday evening.