IANS/Bangalore


Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah yesterday inducted 28 members into his five-day-old ministry, keeping out two strong but mining-scam hit aspirants for cabinet berths.
The two are former working president of the state Congress D K. Shivakumar from Kanakapura, about 55km from here, and mining baron Anil Lad from iron-ore rich Bellary district, around 300km north of Bangalore.
Anil’s cousin Santosh Lad, who is also into mining, however made it to the ministry.
It is not clear whether Shivakumar and Anil Lad will be accommodated in the next expansion as Siddaramaiah has left five slots in the ministry vacant.
Karnataka can have a 34-member ministry including the chief minister as per the constitutional arrangement.
Shivakumar and the Lad family have been fighting charges of illegal mining.
Siddaramaiah and the Congress were under pressure from civil society groups to exclude them as well as all party legislators facing serious corruption charges out of the ministry.
Supporters of Shivakumar staged protests in Kanakapura and nearby places.
Lad, a Congress Rajya Sabha member who won from Bellary City, had threatened to quit the assembly if denied a ministerial berth. Of the 28 sworn-in yesterday, 20 are cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state.
The Congress won 121 of the 223 seats for which polls were held. The assembly has 225 members including one nominated to represent the Anglo-Indian community.
The BJP, whose maiden rule since 2008 was marred by sex, corruption and illegal land deal scandals and dissidence, suffered a crushing defeat, and the party won just 40 seats.