Karnataka Congress replaces Shivakumar, appoints HK Patil as campaign committee chairman

Kartnaka Congress on Saturday appointed HK Patil as the new campaign committee Chairman. Patil is replacing DK Shivakumar, the Minister for Water Resources and Medical Education in Karnataka government. The party released an official communique on Twitter informing about the change. Patil is a senior Congress leader from Gadag in Karnataka. He was earlier the state minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in Siddaramaiah government. This comes ahead of the cabinet expansion of the Karnataka coalition government. Six Congress legislators are which is likely to join on Saturday, said party's state unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao on Friday. "The JD(S)-Congress cabinet will be expanded tomorrow (Saturday) evening with the induction of six more legislators from our party to fill the vacancies in the 34-member ministry," Rao told reporters in New Delhi. Although there is no communique from Raj Bhavan yet on the swearing-in ceremony time, a party source told IANS that Governor Vajubha R. Vala said he would be free from 5:30 pm on Saturday for the swear-in of the six legislators as ministers. "The Governor's office said Vala will be free at 5.30 pm to administer the oath of office to the party's legislators as cabinet ministers," said the party official. There are eight vacancies in the cabinet, including two of the Janata Dal-Secular JD(S) from its quota of 12, including Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, and six from the quota of 22 of the Congress, including Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara. Among the probable lawmakers from the Congress tipped for the cabinet posts are M.T.B. Nagaraj, CS Shivali, Sathish Jharkiholi, R.B. Thimmapur, Rahim Khan and Tanveer Sait. The party may ask its two ministers Ramesh Jharkiholi holding Municipal Administration portfolio and R. Shankar (Forests) to resign to induct at least two of the four senior lawmakers - H.K. Patil, M.B. Patil, Ramalinga Reddy and Roshan Baig. Source: Zee News