Having offered the chief ministership on a platter to HD Kumaraswamy despite bagging double number of seats than the JD(S) in the Assembly polls just to prevent the BJP from coming to power in Karnataka, the Congress on Tuesday extracted lion’s share in the Government with the posts of Deputy Chief Minister, Speaker and 22 Ministerial berths. The JD(S) will keep 12 Ministries and the Deputy Speaker’s post.
Congress’ State president G Parameshwara, a Dalit, will be the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and its MlA KR Ramesh Kumar will be the Speaker of the Vidhana Soudha.
The swearing-in ceremony of Kumaraswamy and Parameshwara will be attended by top leaders from over a dozen Opposition parties in what is being billed as a show of strength to counter a rampaging BJP with just a year to go for the lok Sabha polls.
Kumaraswamy will take the floor test on Thursday. Subsequently, the contentious issue of portfolio allocation will be decided.
Congress general secretary and Karnataka incharge KC Venugopal informed the media that only one Deputy Chief Minister will be appointed.
The announcement came amid demands from several Muslim organisations to make Roshan Baig the Deputy Chief Minister, and several lingayat MlAs from the Congress camp sought to make someone from their community the second-in-command.
In a letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha had demanded the Deputy Chief Minister’s post for a lingayat on the ground that the community elected 16 Congress MlAs.
Kumaraswamy will be the second Chief Minister to take oath in Karnataka within a week, after BJP State president BS Yeddyurappa stepped down without facing the floor test on May 19 in the face of imminent defeat.
“Today we took decision regarding the expansion (of the Cabinet). Speaker and Deputy Speaker would be elected on May 25. Portfolios would be decided on Thursday. Everything is alright, no differences,” Kumaraswamy said after the marathon meeting on Cabinet formation.
Kumaraswamy, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leaders Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge, DK Shivakumar, and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s elder son HD Revanna were present in the meeting.
However, top leaders of both the sides earlier in the day minced no words in saying that the road ahead was a challenging one for the two rivals-turned-partners.
“This is a big challenge in my life. I’m not expecting that I will be able to fulfil my responsibilities as Chief Minister easily,” Kumaraswamy himself said.
“People also have doubts, not only me, people in the State also have doubt whether this Government will function smoothly. But I have belief that with the grace of Sharadambe and Sringeri Jagadguru (Shankaracharya) everything will go smoothly,” he told reporters. For his part, Parameshwara admitted “difficult times were ahead”.
The BJP, which has dubbed the Congress-JD(S) alliance as “unholy” and claimed the Government will not complete its full term, has decided to boycott the oath- taking ceremony. It will instead observe “anti-popular mandate day” on Wednesday to protest the formation of the coalition Government.
While the portfolio allocation task will be tricky for Kumaraswamy, Congress’ key strategist in the State DK Shivakumar queered the pitch for both the sides as he sought a key role for himself and asserted, “I don’t want to show my strength. I don’t want to show my numbers. I have faith in Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. We all believe in one man resolution, that is the party high command. They will take a call on who has to be what,” Shivakumar said. A party leader said Shivakumar is demanding home portfolio or State party presidentship in view of the 2019 lok Sabha polls.
However, the Congress and the JD(S) MlAs are still under watch and confined to their hotels till the floor test amid internal differences and in a bid to avoid any desertions.
A JD(S) leader said discussion was also on the possibility of sole Bahujan Samaj Party legislator N Mahesh getting a Cabinet berth. The Mayawati-led BSP and the JD(S) had a pre-poll alliance in the State.