Karnataka coalition ministry expanded with 25 cabinet ministers
Bengaluru, June 6 : The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka was expanded on Wednesday, with the induction of 25 legislators as cabinet ministers including 23 from the alliance partners and one BSP MLA and an Independent.
Of the 23 from the alliance, 14 are from Congress and 9 from JD-S.
Governor Vajubhai R. Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Raj Bhavan in the city centre.
Former Kannada actress and legislative council member Jayamala of the Congress is the lone woman minister. N Mahesh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was also sworn in. The BSP is a pre-poll ally of the JD-S.
Independent R. Shankar, who supported the alliance, is another cabinet minister.
Besides Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S and Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara of the Congress, senior leaders and several legislators of both the alliance partners and senior officials were present at the hour-long ceremony.
The 14 legislators of the Congress and nine of the JD-S took oath in Kannada and in the name of either god, Allah, 14th century Kannadiga social reformer Basavanna and parents.
Among the Congress ministers were R.V. Deshpande, D.K. Shivakumar, K.J. George, Krishna Byre Gowda, Shiva Shankar Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, U.T. Khader, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Shivanand Patil, Venkat Ramanappa, Rajasekhar Basavaraj Patil, Puttaranga Shetty and Jayamala.
Among the JD-S ministers are H.D. Revanna, Bandeppa Kashempur, G.T. Deve Gowda, D.C. Thammanna, M.C. Managuli, S.R. Srinivas, Venkatrao Nadegouda, C.S. Puttaraju and S.R. Mahesh.
Revanna is the second son of JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and elder brother of Kumaraswamy. He represents Holenarsipur assembly segment from Hassan district.
Priyank is the son of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge from Chittapur in Gulbarga district.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
