Congress Likely To Induct Up To 24 More MLAs In Karnataka Government On 27 May

The Congress has been in discussions regarding the expansion of the Karnataka state cabinet over the past few days.

On Thursday (25 May), the party reportedly narrowed their selection down to 20 to 24 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to be inducted into the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka.

The new ministers will be sworn in on Saturday at 11.45am, with the ceremony likely to take place at Raj Bhavan, according to Congress insiders, as reported by the Times of India.

Over the past two days, the Karnataka Chief Minister and his deputy, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, respectively, have had discussions with senior Congress leaders in Delhi to discuss the list of new ministers.

Despite this progress, the official list of new ministers is yet to be announced due to a lack of agreement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar on the appointment of three or four senior leaders to cabinet positions.

These leaders include R V Deshpande, H C Mahadevappa, and T B Jayachandra, all of whom are supporters of Siddaramaiah. Sources indicate that Shivakumar has objected to their nomination.

However, Congress sources suggest that there is agreement on the remaining candidates, with each camp of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar potentially receiving six berths each.

In the first round of appointments, each of the two camps appointed four ministers each, leaving aside both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. The total cabinet could be made up of 10 members from each camp.

Some of the candidates speculated to make the cut for this Saturday's ceremony include Krishna Byregowda, H K Patil, and Eshwara Khandre.

The veteran politician B K Hariprasad may also make the cut from the MLC quota, while the name of former CM Jagadish Shettar is doing the rounds as he was summoned to Delhi by the party leadership.

No portfolios have been assigned to any of the newly appointed ministers as yet. Congress party high command is finalising the portfolios, which are expected to be announced after the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.