Cabinet Expansion In Karnataka "At The Earliest": Siddaramaiah

Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the much awaited expansion of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition cabinet will happen "at the earliest". He added that the party's state leadership would soon seek Congress President Rahul Gandhi's time to discuss about the expansion.

"It (expansion) will happen at the earliest...elections are about to end there (in MP and Rajasthan). In between we will seek time to discuss and do it ," head of the Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee said.

State Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara had recently said the cabinet expansion would take place within this month.The cabinet expansion and appointment of lawmakers as heads of boards and corporations that was to take place in October was put on the back burner by the Congress-JD(S) coalition, as the schedule for the November 3 bypolls to two assembly and three parliamentary seats in the state was announced.

Several Congress lawmakers, aspiring for ministerial posts, have been demanding the expansion to be taken up at the earliest.

Some of them, including former Minister M B Patil and senior legislator B C Patil even met Congress General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka KC Vengopal on Saturday to put forward their case. 

This would be the second cabinet expansion since the coalition came to power in May in a post-poll tie-up between Congress and JD(S).
Under the power sharing arrangement reached by the two parties, Congress will have 22 ministers and the JD(S) 12.

In the earlier exercise on June 6, Mr Kumaraswamy had inducted 25 ministers, taking the ministry's strength to 27. However, the lone BSP Minister in the coalition cabinet N Mahesh, who was inducted from JD(S), quit his post in October, citing personal reasons, but said he would continue to support the ruling coalition.

There are now six vacant ministerial positions left for the Congress, and two for the JD(S).