Last-minute twist in Karnataka Cabinet: Mankal Vaidya dropped, S.S. Mallikarjun gets ministerial berth

The Karnataka Cabinet expansion witnessed a major last-minute change ahead of the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for today. In a significant revision to the final list approved by the Karnataka High Command, Mankal Vaidya has been dropped from the list of ministers, while S.S. Mallikarjun has been included in the Cabinet.
The change comes just hours before the oath-taking ceremony.

S.S. Mallikarjun is an experienced Congress leader and is no stranger to the state Cabinet. He had earlier served as a minister in the Siddaramaiah government and is now making a return to the ministry with this latest Cabinet expansion.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held today at 4 PM at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru. All preparations for the event have already been completed, and the newly inducted ministers will take the oath of office and secrecy before officially joining the Karnataka Cabinet.

Following the ceremony, the state government is expected to announce the allocation of portfolios separately.

With the inclusion of S.S. Mallikarjun and the removal of Mankal Vaidya, the revised list of ministers to be sworn in includes P.M. Narendraswamy, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Rudrappa Lamani, K.S. Basavanthappa, B. Nagendra, T. Raghumoorthy, B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, Rizwan Arshad, Santosh Lad, Madhu Bangarappa, Puttarangashetty, S.S. Mallikarjun, Dr. Ajay Singh, N. Cheluvaraya Swamy, K.M. Shivalinge Gowda, H.C. Balakrishna, Gayathri Shanthegowda, Basavaraj Rayareddi, Vijayanand Kashappanavar and Laxman Savadi.