Karnataka cabinet expansion today, Rahul Gandhi and Kharge to clear final list

The pending Cabinet expansion was earlier expected to take place on Friday, July 31, but the schedule was reportedly pushed back following discussions by the party leadership in Delhi.

In Short

• Swearing-in ceremony likely to happen at 4 pm today: Sources
• Party balancing caste, religion and region in selection: Report
• Maximum allowed strength of Karnataka council of ministers is 34

The much-anticipated expansion of Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's Cabinet is set to take place today, following the approval of the final list of hopefuls by the Congress high command, sources said on Monday.

They added that the list will include names to fill 20 ministerial berths. The sources said the list would be released by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) at around 10 AM after a meeting between party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and MP Rahul Gandhi.

CM Shivakumar will subsequently forward it to Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, they said.

According to the sources, the list will likely contain the following names:

1) Ponanna

2) Rizwan Arshad

3) SS Mallikarjun

4) Laxman Savadi

5) Yashwantraya Gouda Patil

6) Sharath Bachegowda

7) Shivalinge gowda

8) Cheluvarayaswamy

9) Santosh Lad

10) Ajay Singh

11) Nayana Motamma

12) Puttaranga Shetty

13) Mankal Vaidya

14) Raghumurthy

15) Shivaraj Tangadagi

16) Lakshmi Hebbalkar

17) Madhu Bangarappa

18) Narayanswamy

The swearing-in ceremony for the ministerial candidates is likely to be held later in the day at 4 pm. Earlier, a report by PTI said the Congress leadership was carefully assessing caste, religious and regional equations while finalising the list.

Sources cited by the news agency said the party leadership was attempting to strike a balance among various social groups and regions.

The pending Cabinet expansion was earlier expected to take place on Friday, July 31, but the schedule was pushed back following discussions by the party leadership in Delhi, per the report.

It has been under discussion for several weeks after Shivakumar assumed office as the CM on June 3. At present, Karnataka has 14 ministers, including the chief minister, against the maximum allowed strength of 34, leaving 20 vacancies in the council of ministers.

Besides Kharge, Gandhi and CM Shivakumar, ex-CM Siddaramaiah, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Congress Karnataka president BK Hariprasad were directly involved in the deliberations for the Cabinet expansion, according to PTI.

- Ends
(With inputs from PTI)