Many aspirants may delay ministry formation in Karnataka

Maintaining caste and regional balance in alloting berths for Congress are also likely to delay the process. 
Congress nominee for Assembly Speaker, Ramesh Kumar, with former CM Siddaramaiah and MLA K J George after filing his nomination at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday | Nagaraja Gadekal
Congress nominee for Assembly Speaker, Ramesh Kumar, with former CM Siddaramaiah and MLA K J George after filing his nomination at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday | Nagaraja Gadekal

BENGALURU:  Too many aspirants for the ministerial berths and the challenge of maintaining caste and regional balance in the distribution of berths in Congress could delay the ministry making exercise of the H D Kumaraswamy government. Even as KPCC president G Parameshwara, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and AICC General Secretary in-charge of party affairs K C Venugopal are preparing to leave for Delhi on Friday after the floor test of the Kumaraswamy government, the Congress leadership is yet to resolve many issues. Some of the factors that will be considered are demand from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community from North Karnataka for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post and a big share in ministerial berths, minority quota in the ministry, and the role of party strongmen D K Shivakumar and M B Patil in the ministry.

The Congress legislature party meeting, which was chaired by Siddaramaiah at a star hotel on Thursday, issued the whip for party MLAs to vote for Kumaraswamy’s confidence vote. However, the meeting could not firm up its list of ministerial candidates. The issue would now be left to the party high command to resolve.

“We are not sure whether we will have another DyCM post for Congress,” Parameshwara said. D K Shivakumar is said to be eyeing a meaty portfolio in the ministry and also KPCC chief’s post which is expected to be up for grabs soon with Parameshwara being inducted as the DyCM.M B Patil, who too has been batting hard for a DyCM post, is also in the race to head KPCC. When asked about fulfilling the aspirations of these two strong leaders, Parameshwara said, “Party top brass will decide on the next KPCC president. Shivakumar is a senior leader. I will be happy if he is given the KPCC President’s post.”

As for the demand to get a DyCP post for a Lingayat, Parameshwara said that the issue has not been discussed. There is no clarity yet on composition of the Coordination Committee to be set up for smooth functioning of the coalition. Congress leadership is keen to have its Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah as its head. The leaders in both Congress and JD(S) have decided to take up all contentious issues for discussion after winning the trust vote on Friday. As a result, the ministry making process is likely to be delayed and it expected to happen only by Monday or Tuesday, sources in Congress told TNIE. 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com