Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 13: Ending weeks of anticipation and internal negotiations, the Karnataka government on Wednesday allocated portfolios to the 19 newly inducted ministers in chief minister D K Shivakumar’s Cabinet, with Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot signing the official notification. The allocations came a day before the state legislature’s monsoon session begins.
The portfolio distribution also saw key changes for senior ministers K H Muniyappa and Ramalinga Reddy. Muniyappa, who was initially given the food and civil supplies portfolio, has now been assigned social welfare, following his insistence on the portfolio and a reported appeal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking the change.
Reddy, meanwhile, had expressed strong dissatisfaction after being given the Water Resources portfolio and had reportedly reached the point of considering resignation from the ministry. He has now been assigned the forest, ecology and environment portfolio.
As part of the realignment, N Chaluvarayaswamy has been given the water resources portfolio, having earlier served as agriculture minister in the former Siddaramaiah administration.
Chief minister D K Shivakumar has retained several 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 the Bangalore Development Authority and Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA).
Who gets which portfolio?
• Laxman Savadi – Cooperation
• Ramalinga Reddy – Forest, Ecology and Environment
• K H Muniyappa – Social Welfare
• Santosh Lad – Labour and Employment
• U T Khader – Health and Family Welfare, Minority Welfare, Haj and Wakf
• Shivaraj Tangadagi – Backward Classes Welfare; Kannada and Culture
• Basavaraj Rayareddy – Higher Education
• H C Balakrishna – Municipal Administration
• K S Basavanta – Muzrai; Fisheries, Ports and Inland Water Transport
• N Chaluvarayaswamy – Water Resources
• Madhu Bangarappa – Primary and Secondary Education
• S S Mallikarjun – Mines and Geology; Horticulture
• B Nagendra – Planning and Statistics
• P M Narendra Swamy – Agriculture
• C Puttarangashetty – Animal Husbandry and Sericulture
• T Raghumurthy – Scheduled Tribes Welfare
• Rizwan Arshad – Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs
• Rudrappa Lamani – Sugar and Textiles
• K M Shivalingegowda – Excise
• Vijayanand Kashappanavar – Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises
• B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan – Housing
• Dr Ajay Singh – Minor Irrigation; Science and Technology
Several ministers have retained their core responsibilities under Shivakumar’s leadership. They include Santosh Lad, S S Mallikarjun, Madhu Bangarappa, Shivaraj Tangadagi and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
U T Khader, who was allocated health and family welfare earlier, has additionally been given the minority welfare, haj and wakf portfolios, which were previously held by Zameer Ahmed Khan.
The new Cabinet also includes several first-time ministers. They include Rizwan Arshad, Narendra Swamy, H C Balakrishna, K M Shivalingegowda, Dr Ajay Singh, T Raghumurthy, K S Basavanta, Vijayanand Kashappanavar and Rudrappa Lamani.
Among the experienced leaders, Basavaraj Rayareddy returns to Higher Education, a portfolio he handled during Siddaramaiah’s 2013–2018 tenure. Former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, who joined the Congress from the BJP ahead of the 2023 elections, has been given Cooperation. Veteran leaders K H Muniyappa and C Puttarangashetty also feature among the repeat ministers.
The allocation follows weeks of internal negotiations aimed at resolving differences between party factions and addressing dissatisfaction among legislators over Cabinet berths. Shivakumar had held discussions with the Congress high command, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, amid lobbying and factional tensions.
The delay in allocating portfolios had drawn criticism from the Opposition, particularly with the monsoon session of the state legislature scheduled to begin on Thursday and continue until August 27.
On Monday, in an attempt to ease resentment among legislators who were left out of the expanded Cabinet, Shivakumar reached out to disgruntled party leaders in the Kolar region, telling them that ‘every MLA here is a chief minister and minister in terms of responsibility’.
The Cabinet expansion had seen 19 ministers inducted on August 3, taking the total strength to 33, with one berth remaining vacant. The absence of women in the expanded Cabinet has also emerged as a point of criticism, with pressure mounting on the government to fill the vacant berth with a woman.