Bengaluru: More than 30 first-time Congress MLAs in Karnataka have written to the party’s high command, urging that they be given representation in the Cabinet during the proposed reshuffle of the state ministry.

A copy of the letter, signed by several legislators, has been addressed to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. It has also been marked to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, and AICC Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.

In their appeal, the MLAs requested the leadership to consider inducting first-time legislators into the Cabinet when the reshuffle takes place.

The letter notes that 38 Congress candidates were elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time, reflecting the electorate’s preference for new and younger faces in governance. The signatories argued that this mandate should be reflected in the composition of the Cabinet as well.

They further pointed out that none of the first-time MLAs were included in the 34-member Cabinet when it was formed, and stressed that young, dynamic and proactive legislators should be given an opportunity to serve as ministers.

The signatories include A S Ponnanna, B B Chimmanakatti, Ashok Rai, Srinivas N T, P Ravikumar, A C Srinivas, H A Iqbal Hussain, B Devendra, Nara Bharath Reddy, Vishwas V Vaidya and Basavaraj V Shivaganga.