Karnataka ministers, portfolios: The Congress came to power in the state bagging 135 seats in the elections that were held on May 10, and counting of votes on May 13, ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which secured 66 seats. After much suspense over who would be the Chief Minister of the state, with the contenders including former CM of the state Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar, it was decided that Siddaramaih will hold the reins of the party again, following hectic consultations with the party high command.
Siddaramaiah was sworn-in as the CM of the state, while DK Shivakumar took oath as his deputy on May 20. Along with the two leaders, eight other ministers, including, G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, Ramalinga Reddy and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, also took oath on the same day.
On Sunday, the Karnataka Cabinet got its full strength as Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot administered oath to 24 ministers at the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru. With the induction, the Cabinet gained its full strength of 34 in the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly, with Lakshmi Hebbalkar being the sole Cabinet minister.
On Wednesday, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge will once again be in-charge of Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT & BT) department in the state, with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah affecting a minor re-allocation of portfolios to his cabinet. Meanwhile, minister M B Patil has been given the additional charge of Infrastructure Development.
Karnataka ministers list and their portfolios:
-Chief Minister Siddaramaiah – Finance, Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information and all unallocated portfolios
-Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar – Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development
-G Parameshwara – Home Department (excluding Intelligence)
-MB Patil – Large and Medium Industries, Infrastructure Development
-KJ Geroge – Energy
-HK Patil – Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism
-KH Muniyappa – Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs
-Ramalinga Reddy – Transport and Muzrai
-Dinesh Gundu Rao – Health and Family Welfare
-HC Mahadevappa – Social Welfare
-Satish Jarakiholi – Public Works
-Krishna Byregowda – Revenue (excluding Muzrai)
-Priyank Kharge – Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT & BT)
-Shivanand Patil – Textiles, Sugarcane Development and the Directorate of Sugar, Agricultural Marketing from the Cooperation department
-BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan – Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare
-Sharanabasappa Darshanapur – Small-Scale Industries and Public Enterprises
-Eshwar Khandre – Forest, Ecology and Environment
-N Cheluvarayaswamy – Agriculture
-SS Mallikarjun – Mines and Geology, Horticulture
-Rahim Khan – Municipal Administration and Haj
-Santhosh S Lad – Labour
-Laxmi R Hebbalkar – Women and Child Development and the Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment
-Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil – Medical Education and Skill Development
-RB Timmapur -Excise
-K Venkatesh – Animal Husbandry and Sericulture
-Shivaraj Tangadagi – Backward Class, Kannada and Culture
-D Sudhakar – Planning and Statistics
-B Nagendra – Youth Services, Sports and ST Welfare
-KN Rajanna – Co-operation (excluding agriculture marketing)
-Suresha BS – Urban Development and Town Planning (excluding Bangalore City Development)
-Mankal Vaidya – Fisheries and Ports, Inland Transport
-Madhu Bangarappa – Primary and Secondary Education
-MC Sudhakar – Higher Education
-NS Boseraju – Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology
In the bitterly-contested and often vitriolic election campaign punctuated by barbs like “vishkanya”, “venomous snake”, and intense debates on the state government scrapping 4 per cent reservation for OBC Muslims, as well as the hijab controversy and the proposed ban on Bajrang Dal which rocked the southern state, the Congress emerged victorious, winning 135 seats, almost doubling its tally of 69 it had in the outgoing Assembly. The BJP, which had 116 MLAs, could only win 66 seats, while the JD(S) saw its tally drop from 29 to only 19 MLAs this time.
