NDTV Accesses 20 Names Part Of DK Shivakumar Cabinet Expansion In Karnataka

The much-awaited expansion of the DK Shivakumar cabinet, pending since a leadership change two months ago, will take place today. The chief minister will reshape his cabinet with 20 more leaders in the first expansion since taking charge of the top post. Many of the faces are new, with a mix of caste and regional arithmetics essential to the southern state.

NDTV has accessed a list of the new leaders who will take the oath of office at 4:05 pm today.

The new leaders include PM Narendraswamy, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Rudrappa Lamani, KS Basavanthappa, T Raghumoorthy, Madhu Bangarappa, Puttaranga Shetty, and Mankal S Vaidya.

The expansion also marks former Scheduled Tribes Welfare minister B Nagendra's comeback in the Karnataka cabinet. A former BJP leader who had moved to the Congress in 2018, Nagendra had resigned from the cabinet in 2024 over charges linked to the Valmiki Development Corporation scam.

Besides, two minority faces are also part of the expansion -- BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and Rizwan Arshad.

Ajay Singh, the son of former chief minister Dharam Singh, will make his way into the cabinet as well.

The other names include N Chaluvaraya Swamy, KM Shivalinge Gowda, HC Balakrishna, Yathri Shanthegowda, Basavaraj Rayareddi, Vijayananda Kashappanavar, Laxman Savadi, and SS Mallikarjun.

Speaking with NDTV, Madhu Bangarappa said he was thankful to Shivakumar for the opportunity and that he will work hard to take on the challenging role. I trained well under Siddaramaiah, and I hope it will help me under Shivakumar's tenure, he said.

The expansion strengthens the Shivakumar cabinet that took charge of the state back in June. The influential Vokkaliga leader had replaced Siddaramaiah in a leadership change that had long been the subject of a power tussle in Karnataka.

Besides Shivakumar, G Parameshwara and 12 other leaders were inducted into his cabinet.

With the latest round of expansion, the cabinet strength rises from 14 to 34.