Bengaluru: A notification in regard to the portfolios for all 34 ministers in the newly formed state Cabinet said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has kept the Finance himself while assigning Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development to his deputy DK Shivakumar.
It also revealed that Siddaramaiah will oversee multiple portfolios, including Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, IT and BT, and Infrastructure Development, as well as all unallocated portfolios.
Meanwhile, DK Shivakumar will preside over the Major and Medium Irrigation departments and Bengaluru City Development, which includes the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority, and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Among other notable appointments, Priyank Kharge, son of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, has been named the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister. G Parameshwara, who previously held the Home Ministry from 2015 to 2017 under Siddaramaiah's government, has been again allocated the Home Ministry.
MB Patil has been assigned the new Large and Medium Industries ministry, and KJ Geroge will oversee the Energy ministry in the state.
Furthermore, Ramalinga Reddy has been entrusted with the Transport and Muzrai ministry, while Dinesh Gundu Rao has taken charge of the Health and Family Welfare portfolio. Laxmi R Hebbalkar, the only woman in the Cabinet, has been given the responsibility of the Women and Child Development department, while HK Patil is the new Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister.
The list of ministers reflects a diverse representation with eight Lingayats, including the lone woman minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar; seven ministers from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities; five Vokkaligas; two Muslims; three from Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities; six from Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups, including one Maratha; one Brahmin; one Christian, and one Jain.
HK Patil has been allocated Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism while KH Muniyappa — a former Union minister for whom this is the first stint in the state Cabinet — is the new Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister.
Ramalinga Reddy has been made the minister for Transport and Muzrai. Amid speculation that Reddy did not want the Transport department, Shivakumar visited his residence and held discussions on Sunday evening.
Dinesh Gundu Rao is the Health and Family Welfare minister while HC Mahadevappa has been given charge of Social Welfare. Public Works has been allocated to Satish Jarakiholi and Revenue to Krishna Byregowda.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge is the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister, Shivanand Patil has been given Textiles, Sugarcane Development and the Directorate of Sugar, Agricultural Marketing from the Cooperation department.
BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan will take charge of Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare while Sharanabasappa Darshanapur has been allocated Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises. Forest, Ecology and Environment have gone to Eshwar Khandre, Agriculture to N Cheluvarayaswamy, Mines and Geology, Horticulture to SS Mallikarjun, Municipal Administration and Haj to Rahim Khan and Labour to Santhosh S Lad.
Laxmi R Hebbalkar, the lone woman in the Cabinet, will take charge of the Women and Child Development and the Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment portfolios and Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil has been allocated the Medical Education and Skill Development portfolio.
Other ministers and their departments include 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), Suresha BS (Urban Development and Town Planning) and Mankal Vaidya (Fisheries and Ports, Inland Transport).
Madhu Bangarappa will take over the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, MC Sudhakar will take charge of Higher Education and NS Boseraju has been allocated Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology.
There was some disgruntlement within the Congress after the Cabinet expansion with several MLAs, who aspired to become ministers but missed out, having to be pacified by party leaders.
In the May 10 elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress bagged 135 seats while the BJP and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19, respectively.
With PTI inputs