K'taka cabinet expanded: 8 inducted

The over four-month-old Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition on Wednesday expanded its cabinet with the induction of eight ministers, four each from both the parties.

After the expansion, the second by the coalition government, the strength of the ministry rose to 30.

Governor T N Chaturvedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the eight ministers at a simple function at the Vidhana Soudha, the state Secretariat, in Bangalore.

The newly-inducted ministers were M P Prakash, H D Revanna, H K Kumaraswamy and Jameer Ahmed Khan from the JD (S)

and Sivanand Naik, S A Ravindranath, Revunaik Belamagi and Sasikanth A Naik from the BJP.

All ministers were of cabinet rank. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, his Deputy B S Yediyurappa and cabinet colleagues were among those present on the occasion.

The coalition government took charge on February three and the first cabinet expansion was effected on February 17 with the induction of 20 ministers.