Karnataka Chief Minister allocates portfolios, retains finance

BENGALURU: 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 tonight after intense bargaining between the coalition partners.nnKumaraswamy 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 JD(S).nnPortfolio sharing had turned out to be a thorny issue between the Congress and JDS and was thrashed out after much haggling, with both parties announcing an agreement on June one.nnWhile 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.nnThe portfolio allocation has been made in line with the power sharing agreement.nnSenior Congress leader R V Deshpande gets Revenue and K J George Large and Medium Industries and IT&BT.nnThe lone woman minister, yesteryear Kannada actress-turned-MLC Jayamala has been given Women and Child development along with Kannada and Culture.nn83 year-old M C Managuli, who is the seniormost minister in the coalition government, gets Horticulture.nnPortfolios allocated to Congress Ministers are Krishna Byre Gowda (Rural Development, Law and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs), Shivashankara Reddy (Agriculture);,nnRamesh Jarkiholi (Municipalities and Local Bodies, Ports and Inland transport), Priyank Kharge (Social Welfare), U T Khader (Housing, City Corporations);nnZameer 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).nnOn the JD(S) side, the portfolios allotted are Bandeppa Kashampur (Cooperation), G T Deve Gowda (Higher Education), D C Thammanna (Transport);nnS R Srinivas (Small Scale Industries), Venkatrao Nadagouda (Animal Husbandry and Fisheries), C S Puttaraju (Minor Irrigation), Sa Ra Mahesh (Tourism and Sericulture).nnBSP’s Mahesh has got Primary and Secondary Education, while R Shankar of KPJP has been given Forest and Environment.nnKumaraswamy has also retained departments including Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Information, Planning and Statistics among others.nnParameshwara has additional charge of subjects related to Bengaluru city and Youth Empowerment.nnKumaraswamy 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.nnSource: Press Trust of India