Cabinet formation: Rahul to decide on slots

The Congress failed to finalise its ministerial candidates to join H D Kumaraswamy’s council of ministers till late Tuesday night despite a marathon meeting.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi held deliberations with leaders from the party’s state unit that began at 4 pm and continued till 9.30 pm. Rahul is learnt to have told the state leaders to hold further discussions and prepare the list taking into account caste and regional considerations.

“There will be a final round of discussions and the list of ministers will be announced on Wednesday,” K C Venugopal, AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka, told DH

Venugopal refused to say whether some ministerial berths will be kept vacant. The new ministers will be sworn in at a ceremony at Raj Bhawan on Wednesday.

Separately, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara told reporters that the list will be prepared on Wednesday morning and he will submit it to the Governor’s office.

At Rahul’s official residence, Venugopal, Parmeshwara and former chief minister Siddaramaiah discussed ministerial probables for all the 21 slots.

However, Rahul will decide how many ministerial berths have to be filled and how many have to kept vacant, Parameshwara added.

He also said the issue of a new Pradesh Congress president did not figure during the discussions.

Congress probables Shyamanur Shivashankarappa (Davangere South Assembly Segment); M B Patil (Babaleshwara); D K Shivakumar (Kanakapura); Krishna Byre Gowda (Byatarayanapura); Venkataramanappa (Pavagada); R Roshan Baig (Shivajinagar); Dinesh Gundurao (Gandhinagar); M Krishnappa (Vijaynagar); B C Patil (Hirekerur); T Raghumurthy (Challakere); Kaneez Fatima (Gulbarga North); Satish Jarakiholi (Yamakanamaradi); Priyank Kharge (Chittapur); Rajshekar B Patil Humnabad (Humanabad); V Muniyappa (Shidlaghatta); R Shankar (Ranebennur); P T Parameshwara Nayak (Hadagali).