Dharam Singh inducts 20 ministers into his team

After setting numerous deadlines and failing to meet them, Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh finally expanded his six-month-old coalition ministry yesterday.

Singh inducted 20 ministers, nine from the Congress and 11 from the Janata Dal(S), into his ministry.

Governor T.N. Chaturvedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers.

The total strength of the ministry has gone up to 32, two short of the maximum strength permitted for Karnataka.

The vacancies are in the Congress quota as the Dal(S) has filled all the 17 berths allotted to it.

Prominent among those who joined the Cabinet are H.K. Patil and R.V. Deshpande who worked in the previous S.M. Krishna government. Singh is yet to distribute portfolios to the newly inducted ministers.

Distribution

In spite of effecting last minute changes to ensure proper distribution of castes, communities and regions, eight districts Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Bijapur, Haveri, Kodagu, Shimoga and Bagalkot went unrepresented.

The lone women representative in the ministry is Congress lawmaker Bhagirathi Marulasiddanagouda. Only three of the 32 ministers have been give minister of state rank with the rest being made Cabinet ministers.

Hours after Singh expanded his ministry, resentment in Congress over the exercise came to the fore with supporters of two of its senior leaders picketing the party headquarters.

- The Asian Age