- DK Shivakumar took oath as Karnataka CM with 13 ministers, no women included
- Veteran leader Margaret Alva expressed disappointment over no woman minister
- Congress has nine women legislators but none made the first ministerial cut
Karnataka's new Chief Minister DK Shivakumar took oath of office with much fanfare on Wednesday alongwith 13 ministers. The composition and choice of his Cabinet is being seen as a balancing act to accommodate different factions, castes and communities.
But one glaring gap is the new dispensation has not gone unnoticed. There is no woman minister in the new DK Shivakumar Cabinet.
Veteran Congress leader and former Governor Margaret Alva flagged the omission. Sharing her disappointment, Alva said she would have loved to see at least one woman minister.
"Congratulations to DK Shivakumar Ji on being sworn in as Karnataka CM. I wish him & his team success. I would have loved to have seen at least ONE Congress woman in the new Karnataka Cabinet that was sworn in. Deeply disappointed that there isn't," Alva posted on X.
Congress having nine women legislators in the state - four MLAs and five MLCs. But not a single woman could make the cut in the first batch of ministers sworn in on Wednesday.
Congress' four women MLAs in the current Assembly are Laxmi Hebbalkar, Roopkala Shashidhar, Nayana Motamma and Kaneez Fatima. In the Legislative Council, the party is represented by Gayathri Shanthegowda, Pushpa Amarnath, Bilkis Bano, Dr Arathi Krishna and Umashree. Yet none were able to break into the first cabinet under Shivakumar's leadership.
MLC Umashree and former minister Laxmi Hebbalkar have previous cabinet experience and were considered strong contenders for ministerial berths.
Laxmi R Hebbalkar served as the Minister for Women and Child Development in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.
While exclusion of women from the first batch of ministers is bad optics, it may not be the end of road for women representation. DK Shivakumar still has 21 ministerial berths to fill as he can have up to 34 ministers. A cabinet expansion at a later stage is likely to see a woman face coming in.
