CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar to visit Delhi today, likely to discuss cabinet expansion and more

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will leave for New Delhi on 24th May evening, where they will be meeting the Congress high command to discuss cabinet expansion, and allocation of portfolios to existing Ministers.

The Chief Minister’s official schedule tells that he will be leaving for Delhi at 6:30pm by a special flight on route to halt at the national capital tonight, along with Deputy CM Shivakumar. Although the visit's specifics have not been disclosed to the media, party sources indicated they anticipate to meet with Congress leadership to talk about ministerial portfolio distribution and cabinet enlargement.

Siddaramaiah is the 22nd CM of Karnataka and representative of the Indian National Congress. Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with 8 other legislators on May 20. Portfolios have not been allocated to the Ministers since then. The party high command approved the first list of 8 ministers, according to Congress sources, against the previous plan to induct a larger number of legislators into the cabinet due to differences between the CM and Deputy CM over some candidates ahead of swearing-in. 

Allocation of ministerial portfolios and expansion of the cabinet is an intimidating task in Siddaramaiah’s agenda but the right combination will strike a balance in having representatives of various communities and regions from old and new generations of legislators. There are too many candidates for ministerial vacancies, considering there are 34 members sanctioned for the Karnataka Cabinet.