Bengaluru: Disgruntlement is brewing in the ruling Congress party after Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar (DKS) inducted 19 new Ministers at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in the State Capital yesterday.

With the induction of 19 Ministers, the strength of the two-month-old Shivakumar Cabinet has risen to 33, just one short of the sanctioned 34. However, the Cabinet has no women representation.

The Cabinet expansion took place amid confusion and rebellion in the party ranks. Though the name of Gayathri Shanthegowda, figured in the initial list that contained the names of 20 Ministers, she was not sworn-in. Gayathri is a first time MLC having been declared the winner from Chikkamagalur Local Authorities’ seat only last week, after the Courts ruled in her favour, annulling the election of M.K. Pranesh of the BJP in the Dec. 2021 MLC polls.

Cabinet hopefuls openly expressed their dissent over Cabinet expansion, with Indi MLA Yashwanthraya Gouda Patil sending in his resignation letter, which however, is yet to be accepted and Sagar MLA Belur Gopalakrishna openly threatening to quit his Assembly seat. Both were fully confident that they would make it into the Shivakumar Ministry.

With over 50 hopefuls lobbying for Cabinet berths over the past couple of weeks, it was expected that at least two Cabinet berths could be kept vacant. However, the Congress High Command decided to fill up the entire Cabinet quota of 34, but eventually kept one berth vacant in the last hour before the swearing-in, after pressure mounted.

The initial list was also revised and the new list came with the replacement of Mankala Vaidya with S.S. Mallikarjun. The Congress also named its candidates for the posts of Speaker (G.S. Patil) and Deputy Speaker (A.S. Ponnanna) and Chairperson of the Legislative Council (Salim Ahmed) and Deputy Chairperson (Umashree).

No Brahmin face in Cabinet

The DKS Cabinet has no Brahmin representation. While the community members Ramakrishna Hegde and R. Gundu Rao served as CMs  in the past, every Cabinet in the State post 1996, has had at least one Minister from Brahmin community.

Lesser representation for Mysuru district

Though the Congress won 8 out of the 11 Assembly seats in the 2023 Assembly polls, no MLA has got a berth in the D.K. Shivakumar Cabinet. However, MLC Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who represents Varuna Assembly Constituency, was inducted into the Cabinet in the first phase on June 3.

In the previous Siddaramaiah Government, other than the CM himself, there were two Ministers from Mysuru  district — Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa who was elected from T. Narasipur Assembly segment and K. Venkatesh, the MLA from Periyapatna.                                                                      

While Dr. Mahadevappa, who was allotted the Social Welfare portfolio, also served as Mysuru District in-Charge Minister, K. Venkatesh served as the Animal Husbandry and Sericulture Minister and also as in-Charge Minister of neighbouring Chamarajanagar district.

Siddaramaiah skips swearing-in ceremony

Former CM Siddaramaiah, who is said to be upset over the Cabinet expansion, opted out of the swearing-in ceremony of new Ministers last evening.

The former Chief Minister is miffed that many of the names he had recommended for a Ministerial berth have not been considered by the Congress High Command.

For instance, Siddaramaiah had recommended Byadagi MLA Basavaraj Shivannavar, who belongs to Kuruba community and hails from North Karnataka, for a Ministerial berth. But the party top brass named Gayathri Shanthegowda, who is yet to take oath as an MLC, as the lone woman Minister, which did not go well with the former CM, who had also recommended the name of MLC Umashree.