BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday allocated portfolios to the 23 ministers in his cabinet, before the state assembly’s monsoon session begins.DK Shivakumar retained key portfolios including finance, cabinet affairs, personnel and administrative reforms, intelligence, information, law and justice, parliamentary affairs and legislation, agriculture marketing, town and country planning, and urban local bodies under BDA and BMRDA. He will also hold all unallotted portfolios.Among the major allocations, U T Khader has been given minority welfare, Haj and Wakf, and health and family welfare. R Ramalinga Reddy will handle forest, ecology and environment, while K H Muniyappa has been assigned social welfare.The other portfolios include:
- B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan — Housing
- Lakshman Savadi — Cooperation, excluding agriculture marketing
- Rudrappa Manappa Lamani — Sugar and Textiles
- Shivaraj Tangadagi — Backward Classes Welfare; Kannada and Culture
- T Raghumurthy — ST Welfare
- Dr Ajay Singh — Minor Irrigation; Science and Technology
- Cheluvarayaswamy — Major and Medium Irrigation
- Madhu Bangarappa — Primary and Secondary Education
- Basavaraj Raya Reddy — Higher Education
- Shivalinge Gowda — Excise
- Puttaranga Shetty — Animal Husbandry and Sericulture
- Vijayananda Kashappanavar — Small Scale Industries; Public Enterprises
- Santhosh Lad — Labour and Employment
- K S Basavanthappa — Muzrai; Fisheries; Ports and Inland Water
- S S Mallikarjun — Mines and Geology; Horticulture
- Rizwan Arshad — Food and Civil Supplies; Consumer Affairs
- Narendra Swamy — Agriculture
- H C Balakrishna — Municipal Administration
- B Nagendra — Planning and Statistics
The allocation comes after Shivakumar decided against an immediate cabinet reshuffle following discussions with the Congress high command in Delhi.After returning to Bengaluru on Monday, Shivakumar had said the government would consider a reshuffle, including the induction of a woman minister, after the monsoon session.The decision followed growing discontent among senior Congress MLAs who were left out of the expanded cabinet. The party had been weighing changes to accommodate some of the disgruntled leaders, but sources said dropping newly inducted ministers could trigger another round of dissent.Congress had taken nearly two months to expand the ministry after Shivakumar and the first batch of 13 ministers were sworn in on June 3. Nineteen ministers were subsequently inducted, adding to the pressure on the leadership to settle competing demands over portfolios.Muniyappa, who was earlier handling food and civil supplies, had been seeking the social welfare department. The allocation gives him the portfolio he had been lobbying for.The Congress leadership is also facing demands for greater representation for women in the ministry. Laxmi Hebbalkar, Annapoorna E Thukaram and Kaneez Fathima were among the names considered for induction, but the issue has been deferred for now.
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