Eight ministers will be taking oath along with Chief Minister-designate Siddarmaiah and deputy chief minister-designate D.K. Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Saturday. The swearing-in ceremony to be held at Kanteerava Stadium at 12.30 pm is likely to be attended by a host of prominent political leaders including chief ministers and party presidents among veteran leaders.
While speculations were rife over at least 25-28 ministers being inducted into the Siddaramaiah cabinet in the first phase, the party leadership approved only eight names after elaborate discussions with the state leaders late through Friday night. As elaborate discussions were needed to finalise the list of ministers based on their seniority, caste and region, the high command chose to downsize the numbers for want of time and consensus among Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who have been lobbying hard for their loyalists.
While former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, a five-time MLA from Koratagere (Tumakuru), who has served in the cabinets of Veerappa Moily, SM Krishna, Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy is one of three Dalit ministers who will make it to the Siddaramaiah cabinet in the latter’s second stint as the chief minister. Parameshwara, a Dalit (Right) leader is also the longest serving state party chief (October 2010 to July 2018).
Veteran dalit (left) leader and former Union minister KH Muniyappa, a seven-time MP from Kolar who had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls contested and won the Devanahalli Assembly polls in the just concluded elections. He will also entering state Assembly for the first time, along with his daughter Roopkala Shashidhar, a two-time MLa from KGF.
A surprise choice is Priyank Kharge, a three-time MLA from Chittapur, and son of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, ahead of all other seniors in the party. Priyank, who belongs to Dalit (right) community was the youngest minister at 38 in the Siddaramaiah cabinet in 2017 and has served as IT, BT and tourism minister and he was again inducted as social welfare minister in the Kumaraswamy (coalition) cabinet.
The new group of ministers also includes Satish Jarkiholi, a working president of the KPCC and five-time MLA from Yenkanmardi (ST reserved) constituency in Belagavi, who has served as excise minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet and as forest and ecology minister in the coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy. The Valmiki leader is the brother of BJP MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) and Balachandra Jarkiholi (Arabhavi).
Lingayat leader and four-time MLA from Bableshwara (Vijayapura) M.B. Patil, who was the water resources minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government and Ramalinga Reddy, eight-time MLA from BTM Layout in Bengaluru who has served as transport and home minister, seven-time MLA from Sarvajnanagar KJ George, who has served as Bengaluru infrastructure and home minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government, and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, five-time MLA from Chamrajpet, who crossed over to Congress from the JDS to become a minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government will be among the chosen few to take oath along with the new chief minister and the deputy chief minister.
Even as the list of ministers was announced, senior leaders in the party expressed their displeasure over not being included in the first list. Veteran leader RV Desphpande said it was not “fair” as he was the senior-most leader in the party.
More than 40 legislators including senior MLAs HK Patil and Dr Sharanprakash Patil had landed in Delhi to lobby for a cabinet berth and a plum portfolio. While some MLAs like Vinay Kulkarni and Vijayananad Kashappanaver urged the leadership to induct new faces.