Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday made a minor re-allocation of portfolios within his Cabinet, resulting in Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Priyank Kharge, once again being appointed as the in-charge of the IT & BT department in the state.

Under the revised allocation, Kharge will oversee both the IT & BT department in addition to his existing portfolio. Concurrently, M B Patil, the Minister for Large & Medium Industries, has been assigned the additional responsibility of Infrastructure Development.

In this portfolio reshuffle, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has relieved himself of both the IT & BT and Infrastructure Development departments.

Sources reveal that initially, Patil was entrusted with the IT & BT portfolio alongside Industries. However, during a subsequent revision, the department was given to Kharge, who also retained the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj portfolio. Patil, who expressed interest in IT & BT and reportedly disagreed with this decision, led to Siddaramaiah temporarily retaining the portfolio himself. It is worth noting that Kharge had previously served as the Minister for IT & BT in the previous Congress government led by Siddaramaiah.