Newly-appointed Ministers of Karnataka Cabinet to Be Allocated Portfolios Soon, Says Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday said the newly-appointed ministers will be allocated portfolios in a couple of days.

"It will be done by tomorrow or the day after," he told reporters in response to a question about portfolio allocation to new ministers.

More than three weeks after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister, Yediyurappa on Tuesday expanded his ministry by inducting 17 ministers into his Cabinet.

The Chief Minister had been running a "one-man cabinet" that had drawn flak from the opposition Congress and JDS.

Among those inducted into the cabinet on Tuesday, 16 are from the BJP and one independent.

They include former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, two former deputy Chief Ministers — K S Eshwarappa and R Ashoka, independent MLA H Nagesh and Laxman Sangappa Savadi, who is not a member of the Assembly or Council and MLC Kota Srinivas Poojari.

Others sworn in were: Govind M Karajol, C N Ashwath Narayan, B Sriramulu, S Suresh Kumar, V Somanna, C T Ravi, Basavaraj Bommai, J C Madhuswamy, C C Patil,Prabhu Chavan and Shashikala Jolle Annasaheb, who is the lone woman cabinet minister.

The newly appointed ministers are currently on a two day visit to flood, rain and landslide ravaged parts of the state to review relief and rehabilitation work being undertaken there.

Soon after the swearing-in, the expanded cabinet met for the first time under the leadership of Yediyurappa on Tuesday and decided to send all newly appointed Ministers to various flood ravaged districts.

Even as the expansion has brought an end to the nearly month long wait for the cabinet to take shape, it triggered some unrest within the BJP as several MLAs made no secret of their discontent after failing to secure Ministerial berths.

Karnataka can have a maximum of 34 Ministers, including the Chief Minister.

With this "limited" expansion, 16 cabinet berths are vacant, leaving space for some of the disqualified former Congress and JDS MLAs who helped bring down the coalition government headed by Kumaraswamy to get on board.