K'taka cabinet expansion today evening

Four days after D V Sadananda Gowda took oath as Karnataka chief minister, succeeding scam hit B S Yeddyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministry in the state will be expanded today evening with the induction of 21 members.

Four days after D V Sadananda Gowda took oath as Karnataka chief minister, succeeding scam hit B S Yeddyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministry in the state will be expanded on Monday evening with the induction of 21 members.

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"We have conveyed to the Raj Bhavan that the new ministers be administered oath of office and secrecy at 5.30 pm," Gowda announced.

"In the first expansion, 21 will ministers be inducted. The remaining posts will be filled up within a week," Gowda, who alone had taken oath on Aug 4, said.

Karnataka can have a 34 member ministry, including the chief minister.

The delay in ministry formation was because the party was split over the number of posts and the portfolios to be given to Gowda's supporters and his rival former rural development minister Jagadish Shettar and his supporters.

Gowda became BJP's second chief minister narrowly defeating Shettar in an election to the post of the leader of the BJP legislature party on Aug 3.

The two factions have been holding talks since Saturday to sort out the issue. BJP general secretary in charge of party affairs in the state Dharmendra Pradhan joined the efforts late on Sunday.