Bengaluru: Call it a slip of tongue or sign of things to come, Karnataka got another ''Chief Minister'' when BJP leader Madhu Swamy took oath as mukhya mantri, or chief minister, instead of mantri, which just means minister.
Swamy was a star performer for the BJP during the heated confidence motion debate moved by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in the Assembly recently.
Mashu Swamy did not realise the mistake initially. It was only when the real Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa went up to him and hugged him that he went back and took oath as a mantri.
Apart from the hilarious highlight, on a more serious note, Yediyurappa finally got a cabinet comprising 17 ministers three weeks after he was sworn in. BJP president Amit Shah gave him the green signal after tweaking his list.
The 17 MLAs were sworn in by Governor Vajubhai Vala this morning. Among those who made it to the lucky 17 are former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, former deputy CM and state president K S Eshwarppa, B Sreeramulu, a politician close to the controversial Reddy brothers of Ballari; CT Ravi, who is known for his right-wing views and Jolle Shashikala Annasaheb, the lone woman to be inducted in the first round of cabinet expansion.
Other heavyweight leaders to be inducted in the cabinet were former Home minister R Ashok, Suresh Kumar and Basavaraj Bommai.
The party high command deliberately left many cabinet berths vacant in order to stave off rebellion from those not in the list and to accommodate the rebel MLAs after they get a clearance from the Supreme Court.
