Ministerial berths decided, Parameshwara to be deputy CM

Bengaluru: After numerous meetings and discussions among the Congress and the JD(S) leaders in the last few days, a final decision on the sharing of berths in the Ministry between the two parties has been made. The size of the Ministry has been fixed at 34 wherein the Congress will get 22 berths, including that of the Deputy Chief Minister, while the JD(S) will get 12 berths, including the Chief Minister.

On Wednesday, JD(S) Legislature Party Leader H.D. Kumaraswamy will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka by Governor Vajubhai Vala. The ceremony is to be held at the steps of the Vidhana Soudha at 4:30 pm and is expected to be attended by several national leaders who want to form a united non-BJP coalition. G. Parameshwara from the Congress will also be sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister in the same occasion.

The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, and Chief Ministers of Kerala, Odisha, Delhi, Puducherry and West Bengal. Meanwhile, the BJP will be observing the day as black day since they opine that the Congress-JD(S) coalition coming to power is a clear subversion of the people’s mandate.

Thirty two ministers and their portfolio allocation will be decided after the floor test of the coalition government, which is likely to be held on Thursday or Friday. AICC General Secretary in Karnataka, K.C. Venugopal, said that owing to the higher numbers of seats held by the Congress in the Assembly, the Congress will get the Speaker’s post, while the JD(S) will get the Deputy Speaker’s post.

The allocation of portfolios for Ministers is expected to be delayed since both the parties will be taking into account factors like caste, region, experience, service to the party, age, etc. while assigning ministerial berths. The coalition has also made a decision on the much debated coordination committee. It has been decided that the committee will contain members of both parties to evolve a common minimum programme and its members will be announced in a couple of days.