A total of 23 MLAs and AICC secretary N.S. Boseraju took oath as Ministers in the Congress Government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Karnataka on Saturday, May 27, 2023.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office to 23 legislators and Mr. Boseraju as Ministers at the Glass House in Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
The allocation of portfolios is yet to be announced.
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The swearing-in ceremony, which started at 11:45 a.m., was witnessed by a large number of relatives, well-wishers and supporters of Ministers who had assembled at Raj Bhavan. The programme was held for more than an hour.
MLAs who took oath as Ministers are: H.K. Patil, Krishna Byregowda, N. Cheluvarayaswamy, K. Venkatesh, H.C. Mahadevappa, Eshwar Khandre, K.N. Rajanna, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Shivananda Patil, Thimappur Ramappa Balappa, S.S. Mallikarjun, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil, Mankal Vaidya, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Rahim Khan, D. Sudhakar, Santosh S. Lad, Byrathi Suresh, Madhu Bangarappa, M.C. Sudhakar, and B. Nagendra.
N.S. Boseraju, who is not a member of either house of the Karnataka legislature, also took oath as the Minister. He is likely to become a member of the Legislative Council soon.
A majority of Ministers took oath in the name of God. However, first-time Minister K.N. Rajanna, representing Madhugiri constituency in Tumakuru, took oath in the name of the Buddha, social reformer Basaveshwara, B.R. Ambedkar and legendary poet Valmiki.
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Another first-time Minister Hebbalkar took oath in the name of social reformer Basaveshwara, Chhatrapati Shivaji, B.R. Ambedkar, voters of her constituency and her mother. She representing Belagavi rural constituency in Kittur Karnataka region. B. Nagendra, representing Ballari rural, took oath in the name of legendary poet Valmiki.
Only four-time MLA Rahim Khan of Bidar constituency took oath in the English language.
Nine first-time Ministers
Combo Photo of 24 newly-sworn in Ministers in the expanded Karnataka Cabinet during the oath-taking ceremony administered by Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot in Bengaluru on Saturday. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
The Cabinet has a mix of the young and the old. Ms. Hebbalkar, Mr. Venkatesh, Mr. Byrathi Suresh, Mr. Madhu Bangarappa, Mr. Sudhakar, Mr. Mankal Vaidya, Mr. Rajanna, Mr. Boseraju and Mr. Nagendra were sworn in as Ministers for the first time.
There are six Vokkaligas, eight Veerashaiva-Lingayats, six Other Backward Castes, six from Scheduled Castes, three from Scheduled Tribes, two Muslims and one each from the Jain, Brahmin and Christian communities.
With today’s expansion, the Cabinet has reached its full strength of 34. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and eight MLAs were sworn in as Ministers on May 20, 2023.
Laxmi Hebbalkar, elected from Belagavi Rural constituency, is the lone woman MLA to make it into the Ministry headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Governor, Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Shivakumar, and Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader congratulated the new Ministers by presenting them with a bouquet.
Sandalwood actor Shivarajkumar and his wife Geeta Shivarajkumar, attended the program.
Ms. Geeta Shivarajkumar is daughter of S. Bangarappa, former chief minister of Karnataka in the early 1990s. She campaigned for her brother Madhu Bangarappa, Congress candidate in the Soraba constituency in Shivamogga district.
Six from Bengaluru
In the 34-member Ministry, as many as six Ministers — K.J. George, Ramalinga Reddy, B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Krishan Byregowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Byrathi Suresh — are from Bengaluru.
Though the Congress did not fare well in the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, Bengaluru, a half dozen of MLAs have been inducted into the Ministry, largely with an eye on the forthcoming elections to the Bengaluru City Corporation, the richest civic body in Karnataka.
Protest
Meanwhile, supporters of four-time MLA M Krishnappa and his son and three-time MLA Priyakrishna staged a protest by holding up placards near Raj Bhavan, protesting against the non-inclusion of their leaders in the Cabinet.
Senior leader and MLC B.K. Hariprasad, and senior MLA and former minister T.B. Jayachandra have openly expressed their disappointment for having been denied Cebinet berths. Similarly, former Deputy Chief Minister Laxam Savadi, who quit the BJP and joined the Congress just ahead of the polls, too did not make it into the Cabinet.
