Congress to drop two, induct eight

Bengaluru: The much-awaited Cabinet expansion and reshuffle of H.D. Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress coalition Government will take place this evening, with the Congress High Command giving its nod for dropping two Ministers and inducting eight new faces under its quota.

The swearing-in will take place at Raj Bhavan at 5.30 pm this evening.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who chaired a meeting with the party’s State leadership at New Delhi on Friday, also approved the appointment of seven Legislators as Parliamentary Secretaries and several other Legislators as Chairmen of Boards and Corporations.

Rahul Gandhi also approved the appointment of Jewargi MLA Ajay Singh, son of former Chief Minister late Dharam Singh as the State’s Special Representative in New Delhi, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur as the Deputy Chairman of State Planning Commission and V. Muniyappa as Political Secretary to the Chief Minister.

The Ministers to be dropped are Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has been at loggerheads with some senior Congress leaders and Forest Minister R. Shankar, an independent MLA from Ranebennur who was inducted into the Cabinet under Congress quota in May after he declared support to the coalition Government.

The eight Congress Legislators, who are to be inducted into the Cabinet, are: C.S. Shivalli (Kundgol); M.T.B. Nagaraj (Hoskote); E. Tukaram (Sandur); M.B. Patil (Babaleshwar); Rahim Khan (Bidar); R.B. Thimmapur (MLC); P.T. Parameshwar Naik (Hadagali) and Satish Jarkiholi (Yamakanamaradi).

The seven Legislators who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries are: Sowmya Reddy (Jayanagar); Anjali Nimbalkar (Khanapur); Ivan D’Souza (MLC)’ Mahantesh S. Koujalagi (MLC); Roopa Shahsidhar (KGF); K. Govindraj (MLC) and Raghavendra Hitnal (Koppal).

The Legislators appointed as Chairman of Boards and  Corporations are: B.K. Sangameshwar (Karnataka Land Army Corporation); R. Narendra (Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation); B. Narayan Rao (Karnataka Forest Development Corporation); T. Venkata Ramanaiah (Karnataka Road Development Corporation); Dr. Umesh G. Jadhav (Karnataka State Warehousing Corporation); T. Raghu Murthy (Hatti Gold Mines Limited); S.N. Subbareddy (Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation); Yashwanthrayagouda V. Patil (Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board); B.A. Basavaraj (Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited); B. Shivanna (Keonics); S.N. Narayanaswamy (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Development Corporation); Munirathna (Karnataka Skill Development Corporation); Prasad Abbayya (Dr. Babu Jagjeevan Ram Leather Industries Development Corporation Limited); Shivaram Hebbar (NW KRTC); N.A. Haris (BMTC); S.T. Somashekar (BDA); B.S. Suresh (KSSIDC) and Dr. K. Sudhakar (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board).

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