In a first, Karnataka will have three deputy chief ministers as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday allocated portfolios to 17 newly appointed ministers who were inducted into the Cabinet nearly a week ago.

Among the three deputy chief ministers are Govind Karjol, who has also been given the charge of PWD and Social welfare; Ashwath Narayan the portfolio of Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology; and Laxman Savadi with Transport department.

Basavaraj Bommai gets the Home portfolio while Jagadish Shettar, a former chief minister, has been made the Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, two former deputy chief ministers, K S Eshwarappa and R Ashoka, have been given the charge of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, and Revenue Department respectively.

Having a tight rope to walk by pacifying the disgruntled MLAs who missed out on Cabinet berth, coupled with allocation of portfolios to new ministers, Yediyurappa had left for Delhi last week to consult BJP central leadership to deal with the situation.

Some disqualified former legislators of the Congress and JDS who helped bring down the coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy reportedly also had piled pressure on Yediyurappa, seeking their pound of flesh and plum portfolios.

Interestingly, Savadi, who has been made the Deputy Chief Minister, is neither a member of the Assembly nor the Council.His induction into the cabinet had created resentment among several senior BJP legislators including eight time Hukkeri MLA Umesh Katti and Honnali MLA M P Renukacharya.

C C Patil has been allotted Mines and Geology, H Nagesh, Prabhu Chavan, and Shahsikala Jolle.More than three weeks after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister, Yediyurappa had expanded his cabinet on August 20 by inducting 17 Ministers.

Though the expansion brought an end the nearly month long wait for the cabinet to take shape, it led to some heartburn in a section of the party as several MLAs continued to make no secret of their displeasure after missing the bus.

According to party sources, Savadi from the dominant Lingayat community to which Yediyurappa also belong to was considered for DCM post to grow the second rung of leadership in the party from the Belagavi region.