HD Kumaraswamy, Dr G Parameshwar to take oath as Karnataka CM and deputy CM today

Bengaluru: Five days after Governor Vajubhai Vala invited the Congress-JD(S) coalition to form the government, state JD (S) president H D Kumaraswamy and his Congress counterpart Dr G Parameshwar will take oath as Chief Minister and deputy CM respectively on Wednesday evening at an event billed as the foundation for Opposition unity as a galaxy of leaders are scheduled to come together in front of the majestic seat of power, Vidhana Soudha.

After a day of tough negotiations between the incoming chief minister HDK and the Congress quartet including state in charge K C Venugopal, former CM Siddaramaiah, KPCC chief G. Parameshwar and party's trusted D.K. Shivakumar, the coalition partners have agreed on power-sharing formula on the eve of swearing-in ceremony: There will be only one deputy CM Mr Parameshwar. The Congress' 22 MLAs, including Dr Parameshwar, and the 14 of JD (S) will be accommodated in the cabinet.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has chosen former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to take over as the presiding officer of the Assembly for the second time. He was Speaker during the rule of undivided Janata Dal (1994-99). The post of deputy speaker will be held by JD(S). Legislators likely to join the ministry will be chosen after the trust vote scheduled for Thursday.

Sources in Congress said during a meeting held here on Tuesday, Congress leaders heeded the plea of Mr Kumaraswamy to restrict the number of deputy chief ministers to one as more DCMs would be a burden on the government.