Bengaluru, August 20: BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday finally inducted 17 legislators as ministers in his cabinet, three weeks after he was sworn in as chief minister of Karnataka following the collapse of the previous Congress-Janata Dal coalition government. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala administrated the oath of office and secrecy to newly-inducted cabinet ministers.
The legislators who took oath as cabinet ministers are Govind Karjol, CN Ashwath Narayan, Laxman Savadi, KS Eshwarappa, R Ashoka, Jagadish Shettar, B Sreeramulu, S Suresh Kumar, V Somanna, CT Ravi, Basavaraj Bommai, Kota Srinivas Poojari, JC Madhuswamy, Chandrakanta Gowda Patil, H Nagesh, Prabhu Chauhan and Jollie Shashikala Annasaheb. Yeddyurappa Changes Spelling of Name to BS Yediyurappa Before Taking Oath as Karnataka Chief Minister.
Of the 17 MLAs, 16 belong to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one, H Nagesh, is an Independent legislator from Mulbagal assembly seat. Jollie is the lone woman minister in the cabinet. This is the first-ever expansion of Yediyurappa's ministry after he assumed office on July 26 and proved his government's majority on the floor of the Assembly on July 29. Karnataka's Disqualified MLA MTB Nagaraj Now Owns Rolls-Royce Phantom Worth Rs 9.5 Crore.
After running the government with a "one-man cabinet" for over 20 days, the chief minister had on Saturday managed to get the nod from BJP national president Amit Shah to expand his cabinet on August 20. The opposition Congress and the JD(S) too had slammed the BJP over the delay in forming the cabinet and had even raised questions about government's "existence".
The Congress had claimed that Yediyurappa's one-man cabinet administration "resembled the President's rule". Prior to cabinet formation, it was expected that some posts may be given to rebel Congress-JDS MLAs as a reward for supporting BJP.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2019 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).