Bengaluru, Aug. 3 -- The Congress high command on Monday approved the induction of 20 leaders into the Karnataka Cabinet as Chief Minister DK Shivakumar carried out a major expansion of his ministry, with the new Council of Ministers reflecting a broad social and regional representation across the state.

The Cabinet expansion retains seven Lingayat ministers, the same as in the previous Council of Ministers, while a leader from the Reddy community has been appointed as the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The Vokkaliga community has also retained five ministerial berths, maintaining its representation in the Cabinet.

In a first for Karnataka, the Cabinet includes seven Scheduled Caste (SC) ministers, comprising three from ...