Even as Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy expanded his Cabinet to include 25 ministers on Wednesday, there seems to be no end to the fight for berths and portfolios within the Congress party. On Thursday, protests erupted in Bengaluru demanding a Cabinet berth for senior Congress MLA R Roshan Baig in the Kumaraswamy ministry.

Muslim bodies held protests in capital Bengaluru outside the Congress party office demanding a Cabinet berth for Roshan Baig. His supporters raised slogans like “we want justice”.One of the banners held by Baig’s supporters read: “Karnataka’s most honest and hardworking politician, Sir R Roshan Baig, not inducted in the Cabinet. This has led to true disappointment among Congress party workers all over Karnataka.”

Baig, a seven-time MLA from Karnataka, was excluded from the Cabinet expansion yesterday, in which 25 ministers were sworn in.

Out of the 25 MLAs who were inducted as Cabinet ministers, 23 were from the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance. One is a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA while the last one is an Independent. Of the 23 MLA inducted from the alliance, 14 are of the Congress party and nine from the JD(S).

The Congress ministers who were sworn in on Wednesday were RV Deshpande, DK Shivakumar, KJ George, Krishna Byre Gowda, Shiva Shankar Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, UT Abdul Khader, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Shivanand Patil, Venkat Ramanappa, Rajasekhar Basavaraj Patil, Puttaranga Shetty and Jayamala.

The JD(S) ministers are HD Revanna, Bandeppa Kashempur, GT Deve Gowda, DC Thammanna, MC Managuli, SR Srinivas, Venkatrao Nadegouda, CS Puttaraju and SR Mahesh.