Talks on Karnataka Cabinet rejig inconclusive

A series of discussions in the national capital to finalise names for the remaining 24 slots in the Karnataka Cabinet was inconclusive on Thursday, even as the Congress plans to hold the swearing-in of more ministers during the weekend.

A meeting involving Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders is scheduled for Friday at 11 am. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Friday.

At least 20 ministers are likely to be sworn in on Saturday, while the central leadership’s efforts are to fill all the remaining 24 slots in one go. Karnataka can have 34 ministers and ten, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, were sworn in last Saturday.

Two leaders from Siddaramiah and Shivakumar camps said 20-22 ministers will be sworn in while a decision on the rest 3-4 will be taken later. There were a series of meetings Congress General Secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala had with the two Karnataka leaders since Wednesday night.

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A decision on portfolios will be taken on Friday, as differences between the two leaders had earlier stalled any announcement. The discussions will continue on Friday and the central leadership’s urgency was gauged from the fact that it postponed meetings with leaders of poll-bound states like Rajasthan to finalise election strategy.

On Thursday, the leaders wound up the discussions after three rounds of deliberations that lasted for around seven hours. Shivakumar left for Bengaluru to attend to some work and would return on Friday morning while Siddaramaiah is staying back in the national capital.

Sources said there is agreement on 80% of the names while differences between Siddaramiah and Shivakumar have led the negotiators to leave a decision on contentious names to Kharge.

A decision on who to include from the Legislative Council will be taken by Kharge and MLCs BK Hariprasad, UB Venkatesh, Salim Ahmed, Prakash Rathod and Prakash Hukkeri are vying for nominations. There is also disagreement about the inclusion of Madhu Bangarappa.

Sources indicated that there is some consensus over the names of Eshwar Khandre, H K Patil, Santosh Lad, Shivanand Patil, Laxmi Hebbalkar, S S Mallikarjuna, Sharana Basappa Darshanapur, H C Mahadevappa, Piriyapatnna Venkatesh, Byrathi Suresh, Krishna Byregowda, Puttarnaga Setty, D Sudhakar and Cheluvarayaswamy.

The Karnataka leaders have also decided to leave it to Kharge a decision on who to include from among Brahmins. RV Deshpande and Dinesh Gundu Rao are looking at ministership. Kharge will also take a call on whether to have former BJP leaders Laxman Savadi and Jagadish Shettar in the Cabinet.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar first met Venugopal and Surjewala at Venugopal’s residence in the morning and later, they shifted the meeting venue to the Congress War Room, where it had two rounds of meetings. Venugopal and Surjwewala also briefed Kharge late in the evening.

According to Congress sources, the party high command approved the first list of eight ministers last week, against the earlier plan of inducting a much higher number of legislators into the cabinet, as there were differences between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar over some names.

Allocation of portfolios to the new Ministers and expanding the cabinet with the right combinations that will strike a balance in having representatives from all communities, regions, factions, and also from among the old and new generations of legislators, is a daunting task for the Congress leadership.

During the discussions prior to the swearing-in, sources had said Siddaramaiah's main objections were to the suggestion to include BK Hariprasad, who leads Congress in Legislative Council, and Shanti Nagar MLA NA Haris. Shivakumar objected to the inclusion of Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Zameer Ahmed Khan, H C Mahadevappa and M B Patil.

Only Khan and Patil managed to get into the pruned list while the cases of others were kept for another day as the time was running out. Shivakumar was very keen on including Haris but Siddaramaiah put his foot down.