New Karnataka ministry expanded

The Congress-led coalition ministry in Karnataka was expanded yesterday with the induction of 10 ministers, including nine of Cabinet rank and one minister of state.

Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers yesterday afternoon.

Following in the footsteps of the United Progressive Alliance government (UPA) at the Centre, the Karnataka government has decided to draw up a common minimum programme (CMP) for the socio-economic development of the state.

The newly-formed Cabinet has also appointed former state Heavy Industries Minister R V Deshpande as the pro tem Speaker of the state Assembly.

As per the agreement reached by the two coalition parties "" Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) "" five ministers from each party were sworn in. This expansion takes the ministry size to 12, including Chief Minister N Dharam Singh and deputy chief minister S Siddaramiah.

The new Congress ministers who were sworn in include, former Home Minister Mallikarjun Kharge (Gulbarga district), Prakash Hukkeri (Belgaum), SR More (Hubli-Dharwad), Srinivas Gowda (Kolar) and Tanvir Sait (Mysore).

From the JD(S), PGR Scindia (Bangalore Rural), MP Prakash (Bellary) D Manjunath (Chitradurga), HD Revanna (Hassan) and Mirajuddin Patel (Bidar) were sworn in.

The chief minister told the media that the portfolios of the newly sworn-in ministers would be announced soon. He, however, did not set a time frame for this announcement.

Later, a decision to come out with a CMP was taken at the first Cabinet meeting held after yesterday's expansion. Addressing a joint press conference after the hour-long meeting, Dharam Singh and Siddaramaiah said the first session of the new legislative assembly would be held from June 9 to 18.

"The new legislators will take oath on June 9. The election to the Speaker's post will be held on June 10 and the Governor will address a joint session of the legislatures on June 11. There will be a 5-day debate on the Governor's address, followed by a reply by the chief minister on behalf of the government," Singh said.

According to Siddaramaiah, the Governor's address is expected to set the agenda for the first coalition government in the state. "A coordination committee will be set up to formulate the CMP. The manifestos of both the parties will form the basis of the CMP," he added.

Siddaramaiah said the government would first address the problems of farmers across the state as they were reeling under the impact of consecutive droughts over the last three years.

"Our first priority is to tackle the problems of riots, availability of seeds and water supply to farm lands in the new sowing season. The spell of pre-monsoon rains in all parts of the state augurs well for taking up agricultural activities on a war footing," Siddaramaiah said.