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New Delhi: At least 20 to 24 new ministers are to be inducted in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka on Saturday. Party sources gave this information on Thursday. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had met party general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday to discuss the cabinet expansion.
The source said the meeting of the four leaders lasted for over five hours in three sessions where names of several MLAs for ministerial berths were discussed. The source said that 20 to 24 more ministers will take oath on Saturday around 11.30 am. However, senior leaders have maintained silence on the developments.
A party source said the names of 20 to 24 probables were discussed and sent to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to take a final call. The source said that before leaving for Bengaluru, the two leaders will also meet former party president Rahul Gandhi.
Along with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who took oath in Bengaluru last Saturday in the presence of top party leaders and several prominent opposition leaders, eight more ministers – G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa, KJ George, MB Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyanka Kharge, Ramalimaga Reddy and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan were sworn in.
However, no portfolio has been allotted to any of them as of now. Slurs said that the Congress will have to strike a balance in cabinet allocation as it needs to balance the demands of different communities in the cabinet.
The politically significant Lingayat community, which voted in favor of the party, has laid claim to the chief minister’s post, but in the absence of a chief minister from the community, it is speculated that a portion of the ministerial berths will go to Lingayat legislators.
The source said most of the ministers are likely to be from the Siddaramaiah camp while Shivakumar will get at least three to four portfolios along with two key portfolios.
Party sources said Krishna Byre Gowda, Laxman Savadi, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Salim Ahmed, Santosh Lad, Dinesh Gundu Rao, HK Patil, Ishwar Khandre, Tanveer Seth, Dr HC Mahadevappa, BK Reddy and BK Hariprasad are among the possible ministers. ,
