Kumaraswamy to Expand Karnataka Cabinet Today, 6 Congress MLAs to Join

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will go in for cabinet expansion on Saturday with six Congress legislators set to join HD Kumaraswamy’s team.

“The JD(S)-Congress cabinet will be expanded on Saturday with the induction of six more legislators from our party to fill the vacancies in the 34-member ministry,” Congress state unit chief Dinesh Gundurao told reporters in New Delhi.

There are eight vacancies in the cabinet, including two of the JD(S) from its quota of 12, and six from the Congress quota of 22.

Lawmakers from the Congress tipped for cabinet posts are MTB Nagaraj, CS Shivali, Sathish Jharkiholi, RB Thimmapur, Rahim Khan and Tanveer Sait.

The party may ask its two ministers, Ramesh Jharkiholi holding Municipal Administration portfolio and R. Shankar (Forests), to resign to induct at least two of the four senior lawmakers — HK Patil, MB Patil, Ramalinga Reddy and Roshan Baig.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy told reporters at Belagavi in the state’s northwest region that his party chief HD Deve Gowda would decide names of the two legislators to fill its vacancies in the cabinet. “We have no problem in selecting our members for the two remaining cabinet posts,” said Kumaraswamy.

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