Siddaramaiah to expand ministry today
Bengaluru, (DHNS): Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is all set to expand his council of ministers by filling three vacancies on Friday. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to be held intheRaj Bhavan at 5 pm.
In a last-minutechange, Siddaramaiah is learnt to have decided to induct Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, the wife of the late minister H S Mahadeva Prasad into the council of ministers, instead of Tiptur MLA K Shadaskshari. Shadaskshari had emerged as a strong contender for the post inthe past few days.
Geetha, who hadwon the byelection from Gundlupet recently, will be sworn in along with Legislative Council members H M Revanna (Kuruba) and R B Thimmapur (Dalit Left), sources in the chief minister’s office said.Geetha is a Lingayat.
With this, all the 33 ministerial berths in Siddaramaiah’s cabinet will be filled.
According to sources, Siddaramaiah’s decision to induct Geetha instead of Shadakshari was taken for political and electoral reasons. Prasad was a prominent Lingayat leader in the Mysuru-Chamarajnagar belt and had close ties with the influential Suttur mutt.
There are a considerable number of Lingayat voters in the 15 Assembly constituencies coming under this belt.