Bengaluru: After running a one-man government for more than three weeks, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa inducted 17 legislators into his cabinet on 20 August.
However, the BJP high command made him wait another week before the allocation of ministries was finalised.
ThePrint brings you the list of the ministers and their portfolios, announced Monday evening.
B.S. Yediyurappa
Chief Minister
Constituency: Shikaripura
Yediyurappa is Karnataka’s 23rd CM, now in his record fourth term in a political career spanning over five decades.
Govind Karjol
Deputy Chief Minister
Constituency: Mudhol
Portfolios: PWD, additional charge of social welfare
One of the BJP’s senior-most leaders, Karjol belongs to the Madiga community (SC-Left). A close confidant of Yediyurappa, he has won every election from Mudhol since 2008, and has previously served as a minister. He was the deputy leader of the opposition before the fall of the Congress-JD(S) government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy.
C.N. Ashwath Narayan
Deputy Chief Minister
Constituency: Malleshwaram
Portfolios: Higher education, IT & BT, science and technology
Narayan contested his first election in 2004 from Malleshwaram against Congress strongman and educationist M.R. Seetharam, but lost. In 2008, he contested again, and has been on a winning streak since then. A doctor by profession, he has been a BJP loyalist from his college days, and is considered to be one of the brains behind the success of ‘Operation Kamala’ this time, which led to the fall of Kumaraswamy’s government.
Laxman Savadi
Deputy Chief Minister
Constituency: Not elected
Portfolio: Transport
Savadi is infamous as one of the MLAs caught watching pornography inside the Karnataka assembly in 2012. A sugar mill baron who is popular among the cooperatives in the state’s sugar bowl, Belagavi, Savadi lost the 2018 election from Athani to Congress’ Mahesh Kumatihalli, who later turned rebel. A senior Lingayat leader, he is said to have a strong influence in the North Karnataka region, and even in neighbouring Maharashtra.
R. Ashoka
Constituency: Padmanabhanagar
Portfolio: Revenue department, excluding Muzrai
A senior leader who represents the dominant Vokkaliga caste in Karnataka, Ashoka is a six-time legislator who has held several important portfolios in BJP governments. He served as deputy CM and home minister between 2012-13, and deputy leader of the opposition between 2013 and 2018. He was a kabaddi player in his university days.
K.S. Eshwarappa
Constituency: Shivamogga
Portfolios: Rural development and Panchayati Raj
Another close confidante of Yediyurappa, this five-time legislator from Shivamogga is among the first generation BJP leaders in Karnataka. Belonging to the powerful Kuruba community, to which former chief minister Siddaramaiah also belongs, he has also served as deputy CM in the BJP’s previous government. He served as the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council when the Congress-JD(S) were in power.
Jagadish Shettar
Constituency: Hubballi
Portfolio: Large & medium-scale industries, excluding sugar
Shettar served as Karnataka CM for one year between 2012 and 2013, replacing D.V. Sadananda Gowda when the BJP central leadership wanted a Lingayat leader to lead the state. Gowda, a Vokkaliga, had initially replaced Yediyurappa when he was removed as chief minister in the wake of corruption allegations. However, Yediyurappa was still calling the shots in the state unit, and under pressure from him, the central leadership made Shettar the CM. Shettar has also served as the leader of the opposition and Speaker of the Karnataka assembly.
V. Somanna
Constituency: Govindrajnagar
Portfolio: Housing
Somanna is a senior Lingayat leader who defected to the BJP in the first ‘Operation Kamala’ in 2008. He has previously been with the Congress and the Janata Dal. Somanna served as a member of the Bengaluru civic body BBMP for more than a decade. He represented the Binnypet constituency in 1994 and 1999, and Govindrajnagar in 2008. He was an MLC from 2010 to 2016, before winning again from Govindrajnagar.
Suresh Kumar
Constituency: Rajajinagar
Portfolios: Primary & secondary education, Sakala
Kumar has been elected from Rajajinagar five times in a row. A Brahmin leader, he has been a staunch follower of the RSS, and has served in several important ministries, including urban development, law and parliamentary affairs. Kumar is known to be a non-controversial leader, and has also been described as suave, approachable and a trustworthy face of the BJP.
Basavaraj Bommai
Constituency: Shiggaon
Portfolio: Home department, excluding intelligence wing
Bommai, the MLA for Shiggaon in North Karnataka, is a former Janata Dal leader from the Lingayat community who joined the BJP in 2008. He has served as the water resources minister, and has been credited for his work during the Cauvery water sharing crisis between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
C.T. Ravi
Constituency: Chikkamagaluru
Portfolios: Tourism, additional charge Kannada and culture
Ravi has won Chikkamagaluru four times, and served as minister for higher education in the previous Yediyurappa government. He is a general secretary of the Karnataka BJP, and the national co-in charge for organisational elections. The Vokkaliga leader shot to fame for his active protests during the Datta Peetha Abhiyaan in Chikkamagaluru.
C.C. Patil
Constituency: Nargund
Portfolios: Mines and geology from commerce and industries department
A three-time legislator from Nargund, Patil served as the women and child development minister in the previous BJP government. He was one of the ministers who was forced to resign, along with Savadi, for the 2012 porngate scandal. He lost the election soon after the scandal broke out, only to be re-elected in 2018. Patil, a Lingayat leader, had also courted controversy when he said women should not dress provocatively as it would lead to an increase in rape cases.
J.C. Madhuswamy
Constituency: Chikkanayakanahalli
Portfolios: Law, parliamentary affairs and legislation, additional charge of minor irrigation from water resources department.
Madhuswamy has gained attention for his parliamentary skills as well as his growing proximity to Yediyurappa. Also a Lingayat leader, he has represented the Chikkanayakanahalli constituency thrice, once on a Janata Dal ticket and once on a Janata Dal (United) ticket. He was the only leader apart from Yediyurappa who spoke on behalf of the opposition during Kumaraswamy’s trust motion, indicating that he is being promoted to the top rung of state BJP leaders.
B. Sreeramulu
Constituency: Molakalmuru
Portfolios: Health and family welfare, excluding medical education
A powerful leader from the Valmiki community, Sreeramulu catapulted into prominence due to his proximity to mining baron Reddy brothers of Ballari, and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who contested from the Bellary Lok Sabha seat in 1999. He has served as health minister in the previous BJP government. After resigning as MLA in 2011 alleging that BJP humiliated his mentor Gali Janardhan Reddy, he contested as an Independent candidate in 2011 and won the Bellary rural seat. He floated his own party, Badava Shramika Raitha Congress (BSR Congress), but merged with the BJP in 2014. He was elected Bellary MP the same year. In the 2018 assembly polls, he contested from Molakalmuru and Badami, winning the former but losing the latter to Congress’ Siddaramaiah.
H. Nagesh
Constituency: Mulbagal
Portfolio: Excise
Nagesh, an SC leader, was one of the first MLAs to withdraw support from Kumaraswamy’s government. He was given the small scale industries portfolio, but later resigned after the BJP promised him a ministership as part of Operation Kamala 2.0.
Prabhu Chavan
Constituency: Aurad
Portfolio: Animal husbandry
Chavan belongs to one of Karnataka’s extremely backward tribal communities, the Lambanis. He has been elected three times in a row from Aurad in Vijayapura (formerly Bijapur) district. He courted controversy during the Lok Sabha elections this year when he said: “All those who vote for the Congress should go to Pakistan.”
Kota Srinivas Poojary
Member of Legislative Council
Portfolios: Muzrai from revenue department, fisheries, ports and inland transport
Poojary is a member of the Ediga community, part of the Backward Classes. He hadserved as minister in Jagadish Shettar’s government. He is the sole representative from Karnataka’s coastal belt in Yediyurappa’s cabinet.
Shashikala Jolle
Constituency: Nippani
Portfolios: Women and child development, empowerment of the differently-abled and senior citizens.
Shashikala is a two-time MLA and Lingayat leader from one of Belagavi’s powerful families. The Jolles have a huge influence in the sugar belt, as they run one of the largest credit cooperative societies there. Shashikala’s husband Annasaheb Jolle was recently elected MP from the Chikkodi constituency.
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