Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mr Jagadish Shivappa Shettar was sworn in as the 27th Chief Minister of Karnataka today.

The BJP State president, Mr K.S. Eswarappa and Mr R. Ashok were sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers along with 31 Cabinet Ministers, 18 of them new faces. The strength of the State Cabinet cannot constitutionally exceed 34, including the Chief Minister.

Mr Shettar hails from Hubli in north Karnataka and has been in the party since its inception and is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He is a four-time legislator representing Hubli-Dharwad Central Constituency.

Mr Eswarappa, a party veteran, represents Shimoga rural while Mr Ashok is from Bangalore representing Padmanabha Nagar constituency.

Compromise solution

With this, BJP central leaders have hammered out a compromise solution to the crisis in the party even as elections are less than a year away.

At a simple ceremony on Thursday, held in the Glass House at Rajbhavan in Bangalore, the Governor, Mr Hans Raj Bhardwaj, administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Shettar and his entire Cabinet.

The others who were sworn-in as Cabinet Ministers are S Suresh Kumar, Govind M Karjol, Basavaraj S Bommai, C M Udasi, Umesh V Katti, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, Murugesh R Nirani, B N Bache Gowda, Shobha Karandlaje, V Somanna, M P Renukacharya, C P Yogeshwar, S A Ravindranath, Revunaik Belmagi, S A Ramdas, Anand Ashnotikar, Balachandra Jarkiholi and A Narayanaswamy.

The following were sworn in as Ministers for the first time: Appachu Ranjan, Aravind Limbavali, Anand Singh, J B Puttaswamy, C T Ravi, S K Bellubi, Varthur R Prakash, D S Jeevraj, Narasimha Nayak (Raju Gowda), Sunil Vallyapure, Kota Srinivas Pujari, Sodagu Shivanna and Kalkappa Bandi.

Priority

Addressing the media after the swearing-in, Mr Shettar said the government’s primary focus will be on tackling the drought situation prevailing in the State.

"We shall strive to provide a corruption-free government but our immediate priority is to combat drought, which has extended beyond the kharif season,” he said.

There has been drinking water shortage in parts of the State. The government is aware of it and would give top priority to tackle the crisis.

Mr Shettar also said priority will be given to remove regional imbalances.

“Our great wish is to ensure the emotional unification of Karnataka, which has been geographically united,” he said.

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