The Congress carried out a major expansion of the Karnataka Cabinet on Monday (August 3), with 20 leaders taking the oath as ministers after party’s high command approved the new Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru.
The expansion showed the Congress’ attempt to strike a balance between caste, community and regional representation, while retaining the influence of key social groups in the state. At the same time, the exclusion of several senior leaders has sparked political discussions within the party.
The expanded ministry retained as many as seven Lingayat ministers, the same number as in the previous Council of Ministers, while the Vokkaliga community continues to hold five Cabinet berths.
The Congress has also expanded representation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minority communities.
The new Cabinet includes seven Scheduled Caste ministers, comprising three from the SC (Right) category, two from SC (Left), one representative from the Lambani community and one from the Bhovi community. There are also three Scheduled Tribe ministers, while five ministers belong to the OBC category. Minority representation has also increased, with three Muslim ministers in the Cabinet.
The party also appointed a leader from the Reddy community as the new Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
According to the Congress, the expanded ministry has a majority representation from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minority communities.
Senior Congress leaders miss out
Despite the large-scale expansion, several prominent Congress leaders were not accommodated in the ministry. Those left out include HK Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Shivanand Patil, RB Thimmapur, RV Deshpande, K Venkatesh, Krishnappa, Tanveer Sait, Appaji Nadagouda and HC Mahadevappa.
Many of them have previously served as ministers and were considered strong contenders for Cabinet berths.
Their exclusion has triggered speculation over the party’s balancing exercise involving regional representation, caste equations and generational changes.
The Congress indicated that leaders who could not be accommodated in the Cabinet would be assigned suitable organisational or government responsibilities.
List of new ministers in Karnataka cabinet
The following leaders were inducted into the cabinet:
PM Narendraswamy
Shivaraj Tangadagi
Rudrappa Lamani
KS Basavanthappa
B Nagendra
T Raghumoorthy
BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan
Rizwan Arshad
Santosh Lad
Madhu Bangarappa
C Putturangashetty
SS Mallikarjun
Dr Ajay Singh
N Chaluvaraya Swamy
KM Shivalinge Gowda
HC Balakrishna
Gayathri Shanthegowda
Basavaraj Rayareddi
Vijayanand Kashappanavar
Laxman Savadi
During the swearing-in ceremony, Governor Gehlot administered the oath to all 20 ministers.
Key legislative appointments
Alongside the Cabinet expansion, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge approved appointments to key legislative positions in Karnataka.
The appointments are:
Speaker, Karnataka Legislative Assembly: GS Patil
Deputy Speaker, Karnataka Legislative Assembly: AS Ponnanna
Chairperson, Karnataka Legislative Council: Saleem Ahmed
Deputy Chairperson, Karnataka Legislative Council: Umashree
