Karnataka cabinet reshuffle: Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly’s monsoon session, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday assigned portfolios to the 23 ministers in his cabinet.
Shivakumar will continue to handle important departments such as finance, cabinet affairs, personnel and administrative reforms, intelligence, information, law and justice, and parliamentary affairs and legislation. His portfolio also includes agriculture marketing, town and country planning, and urban local bodies under the BDA and BMRDA. He will additionally take charge of any departments left unassigned.
UT Khader has been assigned minority welfare, Haj and Wakf, along with health and family welfare. R Ramalinga Reddy will be in charge of forest, ecology and environment, while K H Muniyappa has been given the social welfare department. Meanwhile, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan has been given housing, while Lakshman Savadi has been assigned co-operation, excluding agricultural marketing.
KH Muniyappa has moved from food and civil supplies to the social welfare department after seeking a change in his portfolio. A member of the Dalit Left community, Muniyappa had been pushing for social welfare, a department that has long seen competing demands from Dalit Left and Dalit Right groups.
Rizwan Arshad has been given the food and civil supplies and consumer affairs portfolios. Shivaraj Tangadagi will handle backward classes welfare, Kannada and culture.
The new allocations put Cheluvarayaswamy in charge of major and medium irrigation, with Madhu Bangarappa taking responsibility for primary and secondary education and Basavaraj Raya Reddy handling higher education. Shivalinge Gowda will oversee excise, which has been separated from the finance department. Puttaranga Shetty has been assigned animal husbandry and sericulture, while Vijayanand Kashappanavar will look after small-scale industries and public enterprises.
Under the new portfolio allocation, Santosh Lad will handle labour and employment, while KS Basavanthappa has been given muzrai, fisheries, ports and inland water. S S Mallikarjun will oversee mines, geology and horticulture. Narendra Swamy will be responsible for agriculture, HC Balakrishna for municipal administration, and B Nagendra for planning and statistics.