Karnataka is set to witness the oath-taking ceremony of the 34th Chief Minister of the state, D K Shivakumar, 64, and the first batch of around 10 ministers —including Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, 45, an MLC — on Wednesday.
The oath ceremony will be held with minimal fanfare at the state Lok Bhavan with a crowd of around 2,000 in attendance.
Shivakumar opted for a lowkey swearing-in at the behest of the Congress leadership, which decided on May 26 to ask Siddaramaiah, 78, the popular CM of the state, to make way for the younger Shivakumar.
The probable list of 10 ministers who are likely to be finalised for oath taking along with Shivakumar include several seniors from the Siddaramaiah cabinet and two young ministers — Priyank Kharge (a Dalit and son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge) and Krishna Byre Gowda (Vokkaliga).
The Congress is also expected to choose between veteran K H Muniyappa and his daughter Roopakala Shashidhar (both Dalits), who is a fresh ministerial aspirant, and Yathindra Siddaramaiah as its youth choices, sources in the state government said before an official list was announced.
The senior ministers are expected to include M B Patil, Eshwar Khandre (both from the dominant Lingayat community), G Parameshwara, a Dalit, Ramalinga Reddy, a Vokkaliga, Satish Jarkiholi from a Scheduled Tribe community and K J George, a Christian. The Muslim choice for the cabinet is likely to be the incumbent speaker and former minister U T Khader.
While Chief Minister Shivakumar and Byre Gowda represent the Vokkaliga community, Patil and Khandre represent the Lingayat community.
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The cabinet formation in the first round will be an exercise in the balancing of the Congress caste equations in Karnataka, sources said.
The OBC face to replace Siddaramaiah is likely to be his son Yathindra, for whom the veteran has lobbied with the Congress high command. The Congress also announced on Tuesday the appointment of Siddaramaiah as a member of the central Congress Working Committee.
A Congress official said, “The first round of cabinet induction will have safe options but the second round could be a lottery for aspirants on the basis of their allegiances.” Several young leaders who have no cabinet experience could find slots in later inductions too.
Names that could be dropped
Among the ministers from the Siddaramaiah government who could face setbacks are Shivaraj Tangadagi, Mankal Vaidya, Byrathi Suresh and Zameer Ahmed Khan among others.
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The new Karnataka cabinet formation exercise could also see the appointment of deputy chief ministers and a new president for the state Congress to replace Shivakumar.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Kerala CM V D Satheesan are expected to attend the swearing-in function. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to attend programmes at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office as well.
Shivakumar said this week that invitations had been extended to block and district Congress presidents, MLAs, former MLAs, Members of Parliament, heads of the party’s frontal organisations and chairpersons of various boards and corporations.
However, citing limited capacity at the Lok Bhavan, Shivakumar said attendance would be restricted to invited guests and appealed to party workers and supporters to cooperate with the arrangements.
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“LED screens would be installed at the Congress office premises to enable party leaders and workers who are unable to attend the swearing-in ceremony to watch the proceedings,” Shivakumar said.
Explaining the choice of venue, Shivakumar said the ceremony was shifted to Lok Bhavan instead of the steps of the Vidhana Soudha to avoid inconvenience to Bengaluru residents, minimise traffic congestion and ensure the event remains simple and orderly.
“After the swearing-in ceremony, a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Congress Bhavan near Race Course Road is planned, but AICC president Kharge and Rahul Gandhi still need to fix a time,” Shivakumar said.
“The Gandhi family had faith in me. They gave me various opportunities. From Rajiv Gandhi to now, I have been very loyal to the family,” he said.
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“After Indira Gandhi’s death, I named my cinema hall Indira Gandhi Chitra Mandir. It shows the commitment I had with the Gandhi family,” he said. “I have to redefine who I am through my work,” Shivakumar added.
