Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa today expanded his 28-month-old BJP ministry with the swearing-in of six new ministers. The total strength of the cabinet has thus risen to 34.
A Narayanaswamy, C H Vijayashankar, C C Patil, Shobha Karandlaje, V Somanna and S A Ramdas took oath as ministers of cabinet rank at a brief function held at Raj Bhavan here. Governor H R Bhardwaj administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers. Though the newly-inducted ministers were yet to be allocated portfolios, it is learnt that Karandlaje would get energy, medical education to Ramdas, food and civil supplies to Somanna and social welfare to Narayana Swamy. Vijay Shankar would be allocated forest department.
Along with the new ministers the chief minister has reallocated portfolios to some of the existing ministers. R Ashok will manage the department of home affairs along with transport, V S Acharya would be in-charge of higher education and planning and D Sudhakar would be the minister for youth affairs and prisons, sources said. Governor has accepted the recommendations of the chief minister.
Shivaraj Thangadagi (small scale industries), Venkataramanappa (textiles), Umesh Katti (agriculture), S A Ravindranath (sugar and horticulture), C C Patil (women and child welfare) Revu Naik Belamagi (mass education and public library), Narendra Swamy (animal husbandry), Krishna J Palemar (Ports and inland water transport)
Besides Yeddyurappa, some of his cabinet colleagues and BJP National General Secretary H N Anantkumar were present on the occasion.
Yesterday, the chief minister had sacked three ministers loyal to mining magnate and tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy. Shobha Karandlaje returned to the cabinet 11 months after she was dropped at the height of dissidence led by Reddy last year. V Somanna also made a comeback into the cabinet. He had to resign after losing the by-election to Govindraj constituency last year.
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State party president K S Eswarappa said the ministry would again be restructured after March next and at least three new faces would be given a chance. Janardhana Reddy who had warned against the sacking of three of his supporters from the ministry, complained to the BJP high command about Yeddyurappa’s action. He later went soft saying they would accept the party’s decision.
“We are happy with the party decision. We go by whatever decision the party takes,” Reddy, who was unhappy with the sacking of Aravind Limbavali, Shivanagouda Naik and Goolihatti Shekar despite his pleas for their continuance, told reporters.
Vijayashankar, Ramadas, Narayan Swamy and Patil are first time ministers. Somanna and Patil are from the majority Lingayat community, to which Yeddyurappa belongs, while Karandlaje is a Vokkaliga, the second biggest caste in Karnataka, numerically. Ramdas is a Brahmin, Vijayashankar hails from the backward Kuruba community and Narayanaswamy is a Dalit. All the three ministers sacked yesterday were from the Dalit sections.