Bengaluru: After a week of nerve-wracking negotiations over power sharing and portfolios, which left the whole of Karnataka wondering if they would ever get a full fledged and functional government, the JD(S)-Congress coalition finally ended the suspense with Congress General Secretary, K.C. Venugopal announcing on Friday that Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy would be Chief Minister of the new government for a full five-year term ruling out any power sharing arrangement of 30 months each for the coalition partners.
Calling the coalition a long-term arrangement, Mr Venugopal announced that the powerful Finance and Power portfolios would go to the JD(S) in exchange for Bengaluru Development and Irrigation. As the Governor is not in town for a few days starting Sunday, the swearing-in of the new Cabinet would be held on Wednesday, June 6, at 2.30 pm.
The Congress has ceded major portfolios to the JD(S) -though it is the bigger coalition partner with 78 Assembly seats compared to the 38 of the JD(S) - with sources claiming that this was intended to keep the JD(S) in good stead particularly when the two parties have decided to face the 2019 Lok Sabha polls unitedly, and is a message to potential allies that the Congress was willing to play second fiddle to regional parties in a bid to forge an united front to keep the BJP out of power.
In a significant development, the two parties have decided to join hands to face the Parliamentary elections of 2019 as well, taking a cue from the overwhelming success scored by Opposition parties which joined hands in states like UP and Bihar to trounce the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls.
The big question now is whether there would be another phase of intense negotiations within their respective parties over who would get which portfolio as Congress and Janata Dal(Secular) MLAs leaders lobby for key ministries.
The Congress will have to look for some fresh faces with as many as 16 ministers in the Siddaramaiah government biting the dust in the recent Assembly polls. The party has been allotted 22 berths including that of Deputy Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Venugopal said the coalition partners will soon come up with a workable Common Minimum Programme (CMP), based on manifestos of both parties and a coordination committee headed by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would be formed to oversee its implementation.
While Mr Danish Ali from the JD(S) will be committee convener, the other members include Mr Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr G Parameshwar and Mr Venugopal himself.
The two partners have also decided to share posts in Board and Corporation posts with the JD(S) getting one- third of them and the Congress, two -third.
While most of the portfolio distribution between the partners is complete, some minor portfolios will be retained by the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, according to Mr Venugopal.
Admitting that the Finance portfolio was a touchy subject between the parties, he said Congress president, Rahul Gandhi was interested in a long term partnership and had spoken to JD(S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda and resolved all differences.
As per the power sharing agreement, the Congress will get the portfolios of Home, Irrigation, Bengaluru City Development, Industry and Sugar Industry, Health, Revenue, Urban Development; Rural Development, Agriculture, Housing, Social Welfare, Forest and Environment, Labour, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Science and Technology and IT/BT, among others. The JD(S) portfolios include, Finance, Excise, Information, Intelligence, Public Works Department(PWD), Power, Cooperation, Tourism, Education and Transport.
The Energy portfolio had emerged as a sticky point in the negotiations, with state senior Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, who kept the Congress flock together during the political drama after the poll results, reportedly keen on it.
However, the portfolio has gone to the JD(S) and it remains to be seen what role Mr Shivakumar will play in the new dispensation.
