Shivakumar reaches Delhi, to discuss cabinet expansion with top brass

Shivakumar reaches Delhi, to discuss cabinet expansion with top brassMay 24, 2023New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Four days after taking oath, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also the state Congres chief, arrived here on Wednesday to meet the top party leadership to discuss various issues including the cabinet expansion.Shivakumar is, on Thursday, likely to meet Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence to discuss the cabinet expansion and other issues related to the state. Interacting to media after his arrival, he said: “I am here to meet the party leadership to discuss various issues including the expansion of the state cabinet.”He said that they have to fulfil the promises they had made to the people of Karnataka and also ruled out any internal rumblings in the party.Siddaramaiah took as the Karnataka Chief Minister on Saturday, with Shivakumar as his deputy in the presence of several top Congress and opposition party leaders in Bengaluru. Besides Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, eight more ministers took oath on Saturday, and 20 are likely to be appointed in the coming days. Before the swearing in ceremony, the party leadership had held long discussion with both the leaders to finalise the cabinet list. A party source said that on Thursday, all issues related to cabinet expansion and how to fulfill the promises will also be discussed in the meeting.Congress had won 135 out of 224 seats in the May 10 voting whereas the BJP was reduced to 66 and the JD-S could manage to get only 19 seats. –IANSaks/vd