28 New Ministers Appointed

WIN\\ Former Leader of Opposition, K. Siddaramaiah, was sworn in as the Karnataka Chief Minister on May 13, 2013. Other aspirants for the post included Mallikarjun Kharge and G. Parameshwar—Siddaramaiah was the unanimous choice. After assuming office, Siddaramaiah inducted 28 new ministers into his Cabinet, including younger leaders Dinesh Gundu Rao and Krishna Byre Gowda. Familiar faces such as R.V. Deshpande and actor-turned-politician, Ambareesh, are also a part of the new Cabinet. Mining baron and Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad, former working President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, D.K. Shivakumar, and R. Roshan Baig, however, did not find a place in the freshly-appointed Cabinet. In the recently-concluded polls, Congress won a majority of 121 seats out of the 223. While the incumbent BJP won a total of 40 seats. The Janta Dal (Secular) and Karnataka Janata Paksha won 40 and six seats respectively. Speaking at a press conference conducted after the results, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Despite the campaign against the UPA, the people of Karnataka have spoken strongly. It’s a defeat of an ideology.” The Congress came into power in Karnataka after a gap of seven years.