Senior Congress leaders G Parameshwara and Manohar Tashildar were sworn in as Cabinet rank ministers, while A Manju and Vinay Kulkarni took oath as ministers of state (independent charge) at a ceremony in Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his cabinet colleagues, officials and a large number of supporters of the new inductees.
The third ministry expansion in the last two-and-a-half years has helped fill up the 34 ministers quota of the State under the Constitution, calculated on the basis of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly. Thursday’s exercise removed one more shortcoming by ensuring representation to three unrepresented districts — Haveri (Tashildar), Hassan (A Manju) and Dharwad (Kulkarni) — in the Cabinet.
For the last 22 months, Siddaramaiah, citing various reasons, had put off filling up all the berths.
The excuses ranged from Lok Sabha polls, Assembly by-polls to gram panchayat elections, among others.
This time round, however, the party high command was keen that Siddaramaiah expand his Cabinet. The party brass also managed to convince G Parameshwara to give up his demand to be appointed deputy chief minister.
Parameshwara, who is also the State Congress President, is likely to continue steering the party till the completion of panchayat elections next year.
The induction of Tashildar and Kulkarni is seen as a move by the party to woo the politically and electorally aware Balajiga and Panchamashali Lingayat’s, respectively.
Manju’s induction is being touted as an effort to counter the influence of the JD(S) in Hassan and also take on former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and his family in their home turf.