It took a fortnight after becoming the Chief Minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday to carry out the first expansion of the cabinet with the induction of 25 ministers.

After a lot of cajoling and convincing , hearing representations and demands both the Congress and the JD(S) decided on who could be the ministers . It took  weeks of hectic discussions and bargaining.Of the 25 ministers, fourteen ministers are from the Congress, nine from its ruling coalition partner JD(S) and one each from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP).

Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, finally found an entry into the cabinet. It was he who had been the party’s biggest crisis manager at the time when the party was trying to prevent its lawmakers from being poached by the BJP, took oath as minister. Its expected that h will be the Energy minister a portfolio he held earlier

H D Revanna, brother of chief minister Kumaraswamy, was the first one to take oath as minister. He is expected to be the PWD minister as being discussed in the corridors of Vidhan Soudha.

Former agriculture minister Krishna Byregowda and former minister for city development K J George from the Congress also took oath as ministers. JD(S)’ S R Srinivas and D C Thamanna were also sworn-in as ministers. Both the leaders are first time ministers.

Congress leaders N H Shivashankar Reddy, who is the former deputy speaker, and Ramesh Jharkiholi were also inducted in the Cabinet. JD(S)’ G T Devegowda, who defeated former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari, also took the oath.

Bandappa Kashampur from JD(S) and Congress MLA R V Deshpande took the oath of office. Priyank Kharge, son of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, and former food and civil supplies minister U T Abdul Khader also took the oath as ministers. Khader had also served as the health minister of the state.

B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, Congress MLA from Chamarajpet, was also inducted as the minister in the Cabinet. He is likely to be incharge of the Minority affairs , Wakf and also the Food and Civil supplies portfolio.

Congress MLC Jayamala was the lone woman minister. While it was expected that Laxmi Hebbalikar, the KPCC women’s wing President would get a cabinet berth , she missed the opportunity as Jayamala got an opportunity .

As per the power-sharing arrangement, the Congress would have a total of 22 ministers while the JD-S will have 12, including the chief minister.With today’s expansion, the strength of the ministry has gone up to 27, leaving seven more vacancies to be filled. Many senior leaders and their supporters could not hide their anger and emotions. Sporadic protests across the state were witnessed across many districts