Bengaluru: Chief minister DK Shivakumar has drawn up a shortlist of around 20 Congress MLAs for the much-awaited cabinet expansion, with the final list expected to be cleared by the party high command Sunday night ahead of the likely swearing-in Monday.Party insiders said 18-20 legislators could take the oath as ministers, depending on the high command’s final approval. The exercise is aimed at striking a balance between regions and communities while addressing growing aspirations within the ruling Congress. Several districts currently unrepresented in the cabinet are expected to get berths.According to highly placed sources, the shortlisted names are: Ajay Dharam Singh (Kalaburagi), Yashavantharayagouda Patil (Vijayapura), Sharath Bachegowda (Bengaluru Rural), Rizwan Arshad (Bengaluru), AS Ponnanna (Kodagu), SS Mallikarjun (Davanagere), Laxman Savadi (Belagavi), Raghumurthy (Chitradurga), Annapoorna Tukaram (Ballari), a representative from Mysuru, Vijayanand Kashappanavar (Bagalkot), C Puttaranga Setty (Chamarajanagar), Rudrappa Lamani (Haveri), Anekal Shivanna (Bengaluru), N Cheluvarayaswamy (Mandya), Santosh Lad (Dharwad), KM Shivalingegowda (Hassan), Bangarpet Narayanaswamy (Kolar), Zameer Ahmed Khan (Bengaluru) and Laxmi Hebbalkar (Belagavi).While the broad contours of the expansion have been worked out, the final composition will depend on last-minute consultations with the Congress high command. An official announcement is expected only after the approval comes through.
