BANGALORE: Karnataka has been rewarded with plum posts by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi for voting Congress to power.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, Mallikarjuna M Kharge has been elevated to the railways ministry from the labour ministry, and Oscar Fernandes, a close Sonia confidante, gets charge of roads and highways.
With M Veerappa Moily already in charge of petroleum and natural gas, Karnataka has got some portfolios. Though the Congress won only six Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka in 2009, the state is represented by five ministers, including KH Muniyappa (minister of state with independent charge in charge of micro, medium and small enterprises) and K Rahman Khan (minority affairs minister).
Almost all regions of the state are well represented in positions of power. Kharge, who lost the race to Siddaramaiah for the chief minister’s post has been compensated. This apart, Hyderabad-Karnatak region, where Kharge comes from, has given a good number of seats to Congress in the May assembly polls. The coastal belt is represented by Oscar, the plains by Moily and Siddaramaiah represents Mysore Karnatak.
On the right track
Kharge is 8th railway minister from Karnataka.
* H C Dasappa (1963-64)
* C M Poonacha (1967-69)
* Kengal Hanumanthaiah (1971-72)
* T M Ananth Pai (1972-73)
* C K Jaffer Sharief (1991-95)
Ministers of state for railways
* C K Jaffer Sharief (1980-84)
* Basanagouda Patil (Yatnal) (2003-2004)
* K H Muniyappa (2009-2012)
