Day Five Of Congress-JD(S) Government: Infighting Over Portfolios Continues To Delay Cabinet Formation

The deadlock over cabinet formation of the newly sworn-in Janata Dal (Secular)- Congress coalition government in Karnataka is likely to persist as the two parties are wrangling over the allocation of key portfolios.

It is already five days since H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) and G Parameshwara of the Congress took oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively.

The delay is likely to be exacerbated further as United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi are travelling abroad.

Both Congress and the JD(S) are insisting on retaining key portfolios such as Finance, Home, Public Works Department (PWD) and Power, Irrigation and Urban Development. According to the formula agreed by both the parties, Congress would have 21 ministers and JD(S) 11 in the new council of ministers.

As per highly placed sources, Congress is inclined to retain the bulk of the ministers in the previous Siddaramaiah government who were re-elected to the current assembly and give sufficient representation to Lingayat legislators.

The list of probables from Congress who are likely to make it to the cabinet include  D K Shivakumar, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Priyank Kharge, R V Deshpande, B C Patil, B Nagendra, Satish Jarkiholi, S R Patil, M B Patil, M T B Nagaraj, H K Patil, U T Khader, and Ramesh Jarkiholi. Bengaluru city is likely to represented again by Ramalingareddy, K J George, Roshan Baig and Dinesh Gundu Rao. Roopa Sashidhar, the daughter of veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister K H Muniyaappa, is also likely to find a place in the Kumaraswamy-led cabinet.

JD(S) is likely to be represented in the cabinet by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy 's brother H D Revanna, veteran leader of the party Basavaraj Horatti,  former Mysore Member of Parliament (MP) A H Vishwanath.  G T Devegowda, who inflicted a humiliating defeat on the former Chief Minister Siddharamiah in Chamundeswari, is also likely to find a place. Mandya MP C S Puttaraju, who was elected to the state assembly from Melukote, is also likely to make it to the cabinet.  Bandeppa Kashempur, a Kuruba leader from Bidar and long time loyalist of the Gowdas may also make it to the final list. Venkat Rao Nadagowda from Raichur and Bahujan Samaj Party legislator N Mahesh are also in contention for a place in the cabinet.