Portfolios for Karnataka ministers after taking oath: Congress

Portfolios for the cabinet ministers in the Karnataka coalition government would be allocated after their swearing-in on Wednesday, a Congress leader said on Monday.

"All the 32 legislators -- 21 from the Congress and 11 from the JD-S -- will take oath as cabinet ministers. Their portfolios will be allocated by the Chief Minister later," state Congress spokesman K.E. Radhakrishna told IANS here.

As decided by the alliance partners on June 1, the Congress will have 22 portfolios, including Home and the JD-S 12, including Finance.

Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy and Congress state unit president G. Parameshwara were sworn-in on May 23 as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.

Tthe Congress high command will decide who among its legislators are to become ministers and which portfolio they will hold.

"Parameshwara is going to Delhi on Tuesday to finalise the 21 legislators of the Congress to be inducted into the ministry in consultation with party President Rahul Gandhi and state in-charge K.C. Venugopal," said Radhakrishnan.

The party's high command will also recommend to the Chief Minister the portfolios to be given to the 22 Congress ministers, including the Deputy Chief Minister.

Similarly, Kumaraswamy will decide names of the JD-S legislators to be made ministers and the portfolios they will hold by Tuesday night in consultation with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and other senior leaders.

"Kumaraswamy will discuss the issue with all our legislators on Tuesday morning and short list the names of 11 MLAs to be made ministers and their portfolios. The list will be finalised in consultation with Gowda by Tuesday night," a JD-S spokesman told IANS.

As per the agreement between the alliance partners, the Congress will have besides Home, Irrigation, Bengaluru City Development, Industries, Health, Revenue, Urban Development, Rural Development, Agriculture, Medical Education, Housing, Labour, Women & Child Welfare, Forest & Environment, Mines & Geology, Social Welfare, Food & Civil Supplies, Law & Parliamentary Affairs, IT, BT and Science & Technology, Kannada Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs, Haj & Wakf and Minority Affairs, and Ports & Inland Transport Development departments.

Besides Finance, the JD-S will have Excise, Information, Intelligence, General Administration, Planning & Statistics, Public Works Department (PWD), Power, Cooperation, Tourism, General Education, Animal Husbandary & Fisheries, Horticulture & Sericulture, Small-Scale Industries, Transport and Minor Irrigation.

In the 225-member Assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 78 MLAs, JD-S 36 and the BJP 104, with three others.

Though the Congress retained Bengaluru's Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar assembly segment in the election held later, it lost its legislator Siddu Nyamgouda in a road accident in Bagalkot district.

Election to one assembly segment (Jayanagar in Bengaluru south) is due on June 11 and vote count on June 13 after it was deferred owing to the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

Kumaraswamy has already won the trust vote on May 25 by voice vote in the Assembly a week after the three-day BJP government fell when its Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned before the floor test as he fell seven votes short of the halfway mark.

--IANS

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