The plan to add five more deputy chief ministers to the cabinet led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is currently the subject of government discussion, according to Karnataka Congress MLA Basavaraj Rayareddy, who also stated on Saturday that certain ministers have already shown support for it. CM Siddramaiah currently only has DK Shivakumar as his deputy. However, Rayareddy claimed that in front of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the government was seriously considering bringing in more. In terms of geographic or territorial size, Karnataka is the sixth-largest state in the nation, behind Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat.
He added that the proposal of having additional chief ministers was mooted by state Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna.
“At least six more deputy CMs should be appointed in Karnataka. Our government is holding discussions on a proposal to bring in a few more deputy CMs, considering the parliamentary elections next year,” Rayareddy told ANI on Saturday.
“The proposal has already received support from several senior members of the cabinet, including G Parameshwara and MB Patil. I, too, agree with Rajanna’s proposal that the government needs to bring in more deputy chief ministers to ensure better governance and administration,” the MLA added.
“There should be at least six deputy CMs for a state like Karnataka,” the Congress MLA said, adding that Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also has five deputies.
“Karnataka is a big state, They (govt) can create another five posts (for deputy CMs). If the proposal is accepted, the number of deputy CMs in the state, including DK Shivakumar, will come to six,” he added.
