India: 29 Karnataka ministers take oath, no deputy CM this time

Bangalore - While Yediyurappa had included three deputy chief ministers, Bommai does not have any.

The South Indian state of Karnataka finally got its much-awaited new Council of Ministers on Wednesday as 29 ministers were sworn in by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru. The ceremony was presided over by Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar.

Bommai was in New Delhi prior to the swearing-in ceremony for finalising the names of ministers to be inducted into his Council of Ministers with the BJP high command. This will leave four more slots to be filled, deliberately kept vacant to quell dissidence in the coming weeks. With Karnataka’s total strength of 224 members in the Legislative Assembly and 75 members in the Legislative Council, the state can have a maximum of 34 ministers.

Out of 29 ministers, seven each are from OBCs and Vokkaligas, eight from among Lingayats, three from Scheduled Castes, one from Scheduled Tribes, two from Brahmin and one woman.

Though Bommai said the new Council of Ministers is a blend of experienced legislators and young faces, yet the exercise has all the elements of the political battle lines over which the 2023 Assembly elections will be fought.

While Yediyurappa had included three deputy chief ministers, Bommai does not have any. Senior ministers include Govind Karjol, K.S. Eshwarappa, R. Ashok, Murugesh Nirani, V. Somanna, V. Umesh Katti while the new faces are V. Sunil Kumar Araga Jnanendra, Halappa Achar and B.C. Nagesh among others.

• India