Kumaraswamy allocates portfolios, retains finance

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy retained the key portfolio of Finance and gave Home to his deputy G Parameshwara from the Congress, as he allocated portfolios on Friday night after intense bargaining between the coalition partners.

Kumaraswamy is also keeping with him the Energy portfolio which was the bone of contention between the two parties, before the Congress agreed to concede the ground to Janata Dal-Secular.

Portfolio sharing had turned out to be a thorny issue between the Congress and JD-S and was thrashed out after much haggling, with both parties announcing an agreement on June one.

While Kumaraswamy's brother H D Revanna has been given Public Works Department, state's senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar gets Major and Medium Irrigation, as also Medical Education, after he had initially insisted on Energy.

The portfolio allocation has been made in line with the power sharing agreement.

Senior Congress leader R V Deshpande gets Revenue and K J George Large and Medium Industries and IT&BT.

The lone woman minister, yesteryear Kannada actress-turned-MLC Jayamala has been given women and child development along with Kannada and Culture.

83-year-old M C Managuli, who is the seniormost minister in the coalition government, gets Horticulture.

Portfolios allocated to Congress ministers are Krishna Byre Gowda (Rural Development, Law and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs), Shivashankara Reddy (Agriculture); Ramesh Jarkiholi (Municipalities and Local Bodies, Ports and Inland transport), Priyank Kharge (Social Welfare), U T Khader (Housing, City Corporations); Zameer Ahmed khan (Food and Civil Supplies, Minority Welfare and Wakf), Shivanand Patil (Health and Family Welfare), Venkataramanappa (Labour), Rajshekar Patil (Mines and Geology, Muzrai), Puttaranga Shetty (Backward Classes Welfare).

On the JD-S side, the portfolios allotted are Bandeppa Kashampur (Cooperation), G T Deve Gowda (Higher Education), D C Thammanna (Transport); S R Srinivas (Small Scale Industries), Venkatrao Nadagouda (Animal Husbandry and Fisheries), C S Puttaraju (Minor Irrigation), Sa Ra Mahesh (Tourism and Sericulture).

Bahujan Samaj Party's Mahesh has got Primary and Secondary Education, while R Shankar of Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party has been given Forest and Environment.

Kumaraswamy has also retained departments including Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Information, Planning and Statistics among others.

Parameshwara has additional charge of subjects related to Bengaluru city and Youth Empowerment.

Kumaraswamy was sworn in as chief minister on May 23. Two days later on May 25, he proved the majority on the floor of the assembly.