(LiveMint)
Karnataka’s chief minister-in-waiting H.D. Kumaraswamy will meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the distribution of portfolios between partners of the newly formed coalition.
Portfolio distribution has been a cause of friction between coalition partners, with each party trying to secure as many important ministries as possible. The developments in Karnataka were necessitated because none of the three major parties in the state got a majority in the 222-seat assembly elections on 12 May. “I am yet to discuss portfolios with Congress leaders. Have only had some discussions at a personal level,” Kumaraswamy said in Bengaluru on Sunday.
“It’s only the media that is allotting the portfolios. It hasn’t been done by us,” Kumaraswamy said, reacting to reports naming key portfolios to legislators.Though both parties are yet to formally discuss portfolio allocation, the issue has been a sensitive one for coalition governments in the past as well.Meanwhile, the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, a representative body of the Lingayat community, on Sunday wrote to Kumaraswamy, requesting him to name senior Congress leader and president of the Mahasabha, Shamnur Shivashankarappa, as deputy chief minister.
