H D Kumaraswamy to discuss Cabinet formation with Sonia, Rahul tomorrow
New Delhi: A day after BJP’s B S Yeddyurappa stepped down as Karnataka chief minister without facing trust vote thereby paving way for H D Kumaraswamy to take over the reins, the JD(S) state chief said that he will prove majority in the Assembly within 24 hours after taking oath.
“Just 24 hours after the oath, I'll prove the majority," he said.
Kumaraswamy will also be visiting Delhi on Monday to meet Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to chalk out plan to ensure a stable government in the state, including decision on allocation of portfolios.
“Tomorrow (Monday) I will be going to Delhi, where I will meet Sonia ji and Rahul ji. We will decide about cabinet expansion. I will discuss everything with them on how to give a stable government for the next 5 year,” he said.
The Karnataka chief minister designate faces a delicate balancing act in allocating portfolios in his coalition government.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said on Sunday that they being a national party supported a regional one so there ought to be a "give and take" equation.
However, the incoming chief minister has denied rotational chief minister arrangement with the Congress.
According to a report in NDTV, when asked if his party has a rotational agreement with the Congress, Kumaraswamy responded in the negative.
Following the Karnataka Assembly election result, in which BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, the Congress offered an unconditional support to the JD(S).
Despite getting more seats than the JD(S), the Congress agreed to make Kumaraswamy state’s chief minister.
The alliance came together with the only aim to keep the BJP out of power.
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However, this is not the first time that the two parties have joined hands.
In 2004 Karnataka Assembly election, after the BJP failed to form government despite being the single largest party, the Congress and JD(S) formed a coalition government with Dharam Singh of the Congress as the chief minister.. However, the government proved to be unstable.
The JD(S) withdrew its support to the government in early 2006. It then formed an alliance with the BJP instead. Kumaraswamy became the chief minister with the BJP's support.
The two parties entered into a rotational chief minister according to which Kumaraswamy would be the CM for the first 20 months while B S Yeddyurappa of would succeed him for the remaining 20 months.
However, the alliance failed in October 2007 after Kumaraswamy refused to let Yeddyurappa take over as the chief minister.
Following this situation, President's rule was imposed in the state and elections were called.
