Newly-inducted ministers of the Karnataka government in Bangalore on Saturday. (PTI)

Bangalore, June 5: For the second time in 10 days, H.D. Deve Gowda proved his clout in the new political atmosphere by ensuring that none of his detractors was accommodated during today’s expansion of Karnataka’s first coalition ministry.

He had earlier got the Congress to replace S.M. Krishna with Dharam Singh as chief minister. Siddaramaiah of Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) is the deputy chief minister.

Gowda chose to keep away from today’s induction ceremony — as he had done during Singh’s and Siddaramaiah’s on May 28 — but his son H.D. Revanna, among the nine cabinet ministers and one minister of state sworn in today, made up for his absence. Revanna, tipped to get the plum public works portfolio, took the oath in the name of his father.

Several senior Congress legislators did not make it to the ministry this time, apparently on Gowda’s insistence. Among them were D.K. Shivakumar, a lieutenant of former chief minister Krishna, and former ministers R.V. Deshpande, Roshan Baig and A. Krishnappa. Former Speaker S. Ramesh Kumar, too, must have figured on Gowda’s hate list and watched the proceedings from the VIP enclosure.

Krishna skipped the ceremony held on the portals of Vidhan Soudha, the seat of secretariat, this afternoon.

“This is ridiculous. We will wait and watch,” a senior Congress leader said, confirming Gowda’s interference.

According to the agreement between the Congress and the Dal (S), five ministers from each party were sworn in by governor T.. Chaturvedi. The city police and state government officials took complete control this time and made sure only invitees made it to the ceremony. Party supporters were denied entry on roads leading to Vidhan Soudha.

From the Congress, former home minister Mallikarjun Kharge, Prakash Hukkeri, S.R. More, Srinivas Gowda and Tanvir Sait took oath. Apart from Revanna, the Dal (S) team included P.G.R. Sindhia, M.P. Prakash, D. Manjunath and Mirajuddin Patel.

The partners have decided chief minister Singh will hold the home portfolio while Siddaramaiah will take finance. Kharge is likely to get irrigation and Sindhia, revenue.

In the first cabinet meeting, the government decided to draw up a common minimum programme for socio-economic development. Keeping in view the programmes and policies of the Dal (S) manifesto, Siddaramaiah said the government would first address the problems of farmers across the state as they have been reeling under the impact of drought for three years.

“Our first priority is to tackle the problems of ryots, availability of seeds and water supply to farm lands in the new sowing season. The spell of pre-monsoon rains in all parts of the state augurs well for taking up agricultural activities on a war footing,” Siddaramaiah said.

“We pray for a bountiful monsoon this year to mitigate the hardships of the rural people and minimise the drinking water problem faced by several villages, towns and cities due to the severe drought during the last 3-4 years,” he said.

Singh and Siddaramaiah told reporters that the first session of the Assembly would be held from June 9 to 18. Deshpande, one of the senior-most legislators, will be sworn in as pro-tem Speaker on Monday. The new MLAs will take oath on Wednesday.

Election to the Speaker’s post will be held on June 10 and the governor will address a joint session of the legislature the next day.

The leaders said minor differences between the coalition partners were blown out of proportion by the media. “He is happy that is why he continues as the deputy chief minister,” Singh said about Siddaramaiah.