'Everything is Settled': Congress, JDS Reach Cabinet Consensus, to Fight 2019 Elections Together
The division of portfolios has come after several days of bargaining between the two alliance partners that delayed the expansion of Cabinet in Karnataka.
Updated:June 1, 2018, 5:31 PM IST
New Delhi: After days of hectic negotiations, the JD-S and Congress finally reached a consensus on expanding the Karnataka Cabinet on Friday and also announced that the two parties will fight the 2019 elections together as a pre-poll alliance.
“Everything is settled now,” said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal as he announced that the party has conceded the plum finance ministry to the JD-S. In return, it will get the crucial home department. The power-sharing arrangement between the two alliance partners was finalized after over five rounds of meetings since Thursday.
The two partners have also formed a coalition coordination and monitoring committee that has to meet at least once a month. The committee will, apart from smoothing the rough edges of running the government together, clear every appointment to statutory boards and organisations.
Apart from the finance ministry, which was proving to be the biggest sticking point, Kumaraswamy’s JD(S) will also get the education, PWD, fisheries, transport, tourism and intelligence ministries. In all, the party will get 12 ministries, while the Congress will get 22.
The Congress, being the senior partner in the coalition, will take the irrigation, health, revenue, urban development, rural development, agriculture and sugar industry ministries in addition to the home department. It will also head the coveted and revenue rich Bengaluru development corporation.
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the expansion of his two-member Congress-JD(S) ministry will take place on June 6.
The division of portfolios has come after several days of bargaining between the two alliance partners that delayed the expansion of Cabinet. Even 10 days after talking over the administration on May 23, Kumaraswamy is yet to install a full-fledged team of ministers.
Kumaraswamy along with his Deputy and Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara had met Governor Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan on Friday morning to discuss the dates for the swearing-in of the new ministers.