Karnataka's D.K. Shivakumar Expands Cabinet with 19 New Ministers

Karnataka's D. K. Shivakumar government made its first expansion on Monday. Nineteen Congress MLAs took oath as ministers. However, Gayatri Shantegowda, the only woman leader among the 20 names approved by the party, did not take oath. One MLA resigned after not getting a ministerial berth before the cabinet expansion, while the resentment of many leaders also came to the fore. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at the event held at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru. This is the first cabinet expansion after nearly two months of D. K. Shivakumar becoming the chief minister. The 19 MLAs who were made ministers on Monday include N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Basavaraj Rayareddy, Laxman Savadi, Madhu Bangarappa, S. S. Mallikarjuna, B. Nagendra, H. C. Balakrishna, K. S. Baswantappa, Dr. Ajay Singh, P. M. Narendraswamy, C. Putranga Shetty, T. R. Raghumurthy, Rizwan Arshad, Shivaraj Tangad, Rudramani Rudramani, B. M. B. Shivakumar Ahmed Khan, Jayaram Vijay