Karnataka Cabinet Expansion: Kumaraswamy ministry expanded, 25 members inducted

After weeks of stalemate between the Congress and JD-S over portfolio sharing arrangement, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will hold his first cabinet expansion on Wednesday.

At least 12 lawmakers from the Congress, including DK Shivakumar, KJ George, Priyank Kharge and nine from the JD-S will take oath as ministers, according to ANI. The oath-taking ceremony of new Karnataka ministers will take place at 2:12 pm in Raj Bhavan, Bengaluru.

The Congress and the JD-S had stitched a post-poll alliance in a bid to keep the BJP out of power after the saffron party fell short of majority in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections.

However, the alliance could not reach consensus on the cabinet sharing arrangement. After days of bargaining, the parties resolved the power-sharing issues last week after Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s intervention.

According to the new power-sharing arrangement, the Congress will have a lion’s share in the Karnataka cabinet with a total of 22 ministers while the JD-S will have 12 ministerial berths, including the chief minister.

LIVE Updates:

# 03:30 PM: Kumaraswamy ministry expanded, 25 new members inducted

#03:10 PM: Former agriculture minister Krishna Byregowda and former minister for city development K J George from the Congress also took oath as ministers.

#03:00 PM: JD(S)’ S R Srinivas and D C Thamanna were also sworn-in as ministers. Both the leaders are first time ministers.

#02:50 PM: Congress leaders N H Shivashankar Reddy, who is the former deputy speaker, and Ramesh Jharkiholi were also inducted in the Cabinet.

#02:45 PM: JD(S)’ G T Devegowda, who defeated former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari, also took the oath.

#02:40 PM: Bandappa Kashampur from JD(S) and Congress MLA R V Deshpande took the oath of office.

#02:35 PM: Priyank Kharge, son of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, and former food and civil supplies minister U T Abdul Khader also took the oath as ministers.

#02:33 PM: Bengaluru: Congress' DK Shivakumar takes oath as minister in the Karnataka Cabinet

Bengaluru: Congress' DK Shivakumar takes oath as minister in the #Karnataka Cabinet pic.twitter.com/fxGsZRJvmD

— ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2018

#02:30 PM: H D Revanna, brother of chief minister Kumaraswamy, was the first one to take oath as minister.

#02:25 PM: What comes in JD-S' share:  The JD-S' portfolios include Finance, Excise, Information, Intelligence, Public Works, Department, Power, Cooperation, Tourism, Education and Transport.

# 02:20 PM: Who get what - a tentative cabinet portfolio (Congress):  Going by the power-sharing arrangement, Congress will get the portfolios of Home, Irrigation, Bangalore City Development, Industry and Sugar Industry, Health, Revenue, Urban Development, Rural Development, Agriculture, Law and Parliamentary Affairs and IT/BT, among others.

#02:15 PM: Hello and welcome to the News Nation live updates: The first cabinet expansion in Karnataka will be held today, a fortnight after Kumaraswamy took oath as the chief minister of the southern state. According to the new power-sharing arrangement, the Congress will have a lion’s share in the Karnataka cabinet with a total of 22 ministers while the JD-S will have 12 ministerial berths, including the chief minister. The new ministers will be inducted today after their swearing in at Raj Bhawan. Watch this space for more updates.