Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday allocated portfolios to his council of ministers, finalising his team after days of suspense after the recent cabinet expansion.
Political Context
Wednesday’s announcement came a day after the Congress central leadership held a meeting in Delhi chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to finalise the portfolio allocations for the newly inducted ministers in the state government. After the expansion, the cabinet now has one vacant berth. He will also hold control over the commissionerate of Town and Country Planning and all urban local bodies falling under the Bengaluru Development Authority and Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority areas. K.H. Muniyappa, who belongs to the Dalit Left community, had been insisting on the social welfare department, a portfolio that has traditionally seen competing claims from the Dalit Left and Dalit Right groups. Narendra Swamy will handle agriculture, HC Balakrishna municipal administration and B Nagendra, the minister of planning and statistics.
Shivakumar, who was sworn in as the chief minister along with 13 ministers on June 3, inducted 19 more ministers on August 3. The sanctioned strength of Karnataka’s council of ministers is 34, including the CM.
Shivakumar will retain finance, cabinet affairs, personnel and administrative reforms, intelligence, information, law, justice and human rights, parliamentary affairs and legislation, and agriculture marketing, according to the order issued by governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s office.
Muniyappa, who was earlier named the food and civil supplies minister and was looking for a change, will handle the social welfare department.
