Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot allocated portfolios to the state Cabinet on CM DK Shivakumar's advice. Shivakumar retained Finance and other key departments, while BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan got Housing and KH Muniyappa got Social Welfare.

Karnataka Portfolio Allocation: CM Retains Finance

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, on the advice of Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, on Wednesday allocated portfolios to the state Cabinet, with CM Shivakumar retaining Finance and several key departments, including Cabinet Affairs, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, Law, Justice and Human Rights, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation.

Shivakumar will also hold Agriculture Marketing, Commissionerate of Town and Country Planning, all urban local bodies falling under BDA and BMRDA areas, besides all unallocated portfolios.

BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan has been given Housing, while KH Muniyappa will handle Social Welfare. UT Khader has been assigned Minority Welfare, Haj and Waqf, and Health and Family Welfare. MB Patil will continue with Commerce and Industries, while Ramalinga Reddy has been allocated Forest, Ecology and Environment.

Other allocations include Lakshman Savadi holding Cooperation excluding Agriculture Marketing, Rudrappa Manappa Lamani handling Sugar and Textiles, Shivaraj Tangadagi looking after Backward Classes Welfare, Kannada and Culture, and T Raghumurthy being assigned ST Welfare. Ajay Singh has been given Minor Irrigation and Science and Technology, while Cheluvarayaswamy will handle Major and Medium Irrigation. Madhu Bangarappa has been allocated Primary and Secondary Education and Basavaraj Raya Reddy Higher Education. Shivalinge Gowda will handle Excise from the Finance Department, Puttaranga Shetty Animal Husbandry and Sericulture, Vijayananda Kashappanavar Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises, and Santosh Lad Labour and Employment. KS Basavanthappa has been assigned Muzrai, Fisheries, Ports and Inland Water, while SS Mallikarjun will handle Mines and Geology and Horticulture. Rizwan Arshad has been allocated Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. Narendra Swamy will handle Agriculture, HC Balakrishna -- Municipal Administration and B Nagendra Planning and Statistics. The complete allocation covers 23 ministers, as listed in the Governor's release.

Ministers React to Their New Responsibilities

Reacting to his appointment, Agriculture Minister Narendraswamy said his background would guide his approach to the department. "I am also a son of a farmer. So I would like to work for this portfolio as the son of an agricultural family. I am ready to face the challenges in the department. This is not the first time we have faced this Cauvery issue. Karnataka has the capacity to solve the problem," he told ANI.

Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi said he was comfortable with the responsibility, having handled the department earlier. "There is no big or small department in the government... The higher education department is one of the wider departments. I have already handled this department under Siddaramaiah. I came to know this morning that I am getting this department.I said Thank You.I am happy with any department," he said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre said discussions were held on the political situation in the state, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and drought-related measures. "We discussed the present political situation in Karnataka and SIR because more than one crore voters' names may be deleted in the final draft electoral roll. We discussed drought and what all measures were taken to tackle it," Khandre said.

Congress leader Saleem Ahmed, who is set to file his nomination for Legislative Council Chairperson, said the party had entrusted him with a major responsibility. "I will be filing the nomination tomorrow (for Legislative Council Chairperson)... I've been working for the Congress Party for 45 years. The party has given me a different responsibility now... It's a big responsibility, and I'm very happy about that," he said.

Also, Karnataka Minister HK Patil said, "We have discussed the Speaker and Chairman's election... We also discussed taking into confidence the leaders of their position and also MLAs during the Speaker and Council Chairman election."

On his portfolio, Karnataka Minister for School Education and Literacy, Madhu Bangarappa, said, "I was wishing that I'll continue in this because in the last three years, reforms were done that were endorsed by the opposition party also. I'm very honoured that they have considered me to continue in one of the biggest portfolios."

Cabinet Expansion Finalised After Delhi Discussions

The allocation comes a week after the expansion of the Karnataka Cabinet. Congress leadership had held discussions in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalise the portfolios for the newly inducted ministers.

On August 3, the Congress high command approved the induction of 20 ministers, including one woman, Gayathri Shanthegowda. The expanded ministry included 12 new faces and eight retained ministers.

The allocation also follows the swearing-in ceremony at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru, which took the size of the Karnataka Council of Ministers to its full strength of 34, including the Chief Minister. (ANI)

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