Karnataka cabinet reshuffled, portfolios given to seven inductees

The Karnataka government on Thursday allocated portfolios to the seven ministers who were inducted into the Cabinet last week, reported PTI. Some ministers were also reshuffled and assigned different portfolios.

The move has left a section of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s Cabinet colleagues miffed. MT B Nagaraj was among those who openly voiced his discontent. He said he does not want the excise portfolio allotted to him. Nagaraj was the housing minister in the previous Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government. “I resigned from the post and came out,” he added. “I’m now given the excise portfolio. What is there to do in the excise department?”

Senior minister JC Madhuswamy, who has been divested of three key departments, skipped an event of the chief minister in Tumakuru. Madhuswamy has been relieved of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Minor Irrigation portfolios and allocated Medical Education, Kannada and Culture departments. Ministers Nagaraj, K Gopalaiah, KC Narayana Gowda – all of who were with either the Congress or the Janata Dal (Secular) before switching over to the BJP – said they will call on the chief minister to discuss the portfolios allocated to them.