Karnataka portfolios: Siddaramaiah keeps Finance, Shivakumar gets Irrigation, Bengaluru development
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has allocated portfolios to ministers in his Cabinet, keeping the Finance department with himself while assigning the Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development departments to his deputy DK Shivakumar.
Siddaramaiah took the oath of office with Shivakumar and eight ministers on May 20. He subsequently expanded the Cabinet to its full strength by inducting 24 new ministers on Saturday after rounds of discussions with the Congress' central leadership.
G Parameshwara, who has previously handled the Home department, has once again been allocated the portfolio, MB Patil is the new Large and Medium Industries minister while KJ Geroge has been given the Energy department portfolio, the Karnataka government announced in a notification released late on Sunday.
Apart from the Finance department, the chief minister, who has presented 13 state budgets, has kept Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, IT and BT, Infrastructure Development and all unallocated portfolios.
Shivakumar has got the all-important Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Shivakumar, who hails from the neighbouring Ramanagara district, has been allocated the Bengaluru City Development department despite five MLAs from the city being ministers in the Cabinet. The portfolio is important keeping in mind the upcoming BBMP polls.
HK Patil has been allocated Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism while KH Muniyappa -- a former Union minister for whom this is the first stint in the state Cabinet -- is the new Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister.
Ramalinga Reddy has been made the minister for Transport and Muzrai. Amid speculation that Reddy did not want the Transport department, Shivakumar visited his residence and held discussions on Sunday evening.
Dinesh Gundu Rao is the Health and Family Welfare minister while HC Mahadevappa has been given charge of Social Welfare. Public Works has been allocated to Satish Jarakiholi and Revenue to Krishna Byregowda.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge is the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister, Shivanand Patil has been given Textiles, Sugarcane Development and the Directorate of Sugar, Agricultural Marketing from the Cooperation department.
BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan will take charge of Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare while Sharanabasappa Darshanapur has been allocated Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises. Forest, Ecology and Environment has gone to Eshwar Khandre, Agriculture to N Cheluvarayaswamy, Mines and Geology, Horticulture to SS Mallikarjun, Municipal Administration and Haj to Rahim Khan and Labour to Santhosh S Lad.
Laxmi R Hebbalkar, the lone woman in the Cabinet, will take charge of the Women and Child Development and the Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment portfolios and Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil has been allocated the Medical Education and Skill Development portfolio.
Other ministers and their departments include RB Timmapur (Excise), K Venkatesh (Animal Husbandry and Sericulture), Shivaraj Tangadagi (Backward Class, Kannada and Culture), D Sudhakar (Planning and Statistics), B Nagendra (Youth Services, Sports and ST Welfare), KN Rajanna (Co-operation), Suresha BS (Urban Development and Town Planning) and Mankal Vaidya (Fisheries and Ports, Inland Transport).
Madhu Bangarappa will take over the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, MC Sudhakar will take charge of Higher Education and NS Boseraju has been allocated Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology.
There was some disgruntlement within the Congress after the Cabinet expansion with several MLAs, who held aspirations of becoming ministers but missed out, having to be pacified by party leaders.
In the May 10 elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress bagged 135 seats while the BJP and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19, respectively.
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Hoax bomb threat emails spark security alert at Karnataka government offices; no explosives found
Karwar/Tumakuru: Government offices in three Karnataka towns were placed on high alert on Tuesday after bomb threat emails were received by the tahsildar offices in Karwar and Bhatkal, and the deputy commissioner’s office in Tumakuru.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald, police officials said all three emails originated from a single email ID and contained claims of “revenge from Tamilians and Pakistanis.” Following the threats, security agencies immediately swung into action and the premises were evacuated and thoroughly searched.
Teams from the local police, bomb disposal squad and dog squad were deployed at all locations. Authorities have confirmed that no suspicious objects or explosives were found. They called the threats a hoax, after extensive checks.
Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police Deepan M N said precautionary measures were taken as per protocol to ensure public safety. “A detailed search was conducted at all the mentioned offices, but nothing incriminating was found,” he said.
Police have begun efforts to trace the source of the emails and identify the sender while security around key government buildings in the affected districts was heightened as a precaution, officials added.
