Karnataka ADR report: Of 32 ministers, 24 have criminal cases, 31 are crorepatis
Of the 32 ministers, there is only one woman - Laxmi R. Hebbalkar - and she has assets worth over ₹13 crore and liabilities worth more than ₹5 crore.
Out of the 32 ministers in the new Karnataka cabinet, 24 have criminal cases against themselves and all have declared their assets and liabilities, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Of the 32 ministers, 31 (97%) are crorepatis, with the average asset analysed at Rs.119.06 crore. Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar declared the highest number of assets worth Rs.1,413.80 crore.
The minister with the lowest declared assets is Timmapur Ramappa Balappa from Mudhol (SC) constituency with assets worth Rs.58.56 lakh.
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Of the 32 new ministers, there is only one woman in the cabinet namely Laxmi R. Hebbalkar from Belgaum constituency, she has declared assets worth over Rs.13 crore and liabilities worth over Rs.5 crore, the ADR report said.
As far as education is concerned, six (19%) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, 24 (75%) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above and two ministers are diploma holders, according to the ADR report.
“18 (56%) ministers have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years while 14 (44%) ministers have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years,” added the report.
The Karnataka cabinet reached its full strength of 34 on Saturday after the Congress-led state government inducted 24 new ministers, a week after chief minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy Shivakumar and eight others took oath as ministers.
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Though the allocation of portfolios to the newly sworn-in ministers is yet to be announced, a draft list of the same was leaked on Saturday, prompting several Congress legislators to raise concerns. However, party leaders said the final decision on the allocation of departments is yet to be taken.
Siddaramaiah took oath as the Karnataka CM on May 20 after he was elected unanimously as the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in Karnataka, while Shivakumar was assigned as his deputy.
Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka assembly ousting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which got 66 seats from the only southern state it had.
