Karnataka may soon have two deputy chief ministers, according to several reports.
“We have received a demand for having two deputy chief minister posts,” state Congress chief G Parameshwara was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express. “The party high command will take a final call on this.” Parameshwara, who is a front-runner for the post, was speaking to reporters after meeting party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, KC Venugopal and Ashok Gehlot on Sunday.
The final call is expected to be taken on Monday, after the state chief of Janata Dal (Secular) HD Kumaraswamy meets the Congress leadership in New Delhi. Kumaraswamy is the chief ministerial designate of the Congress-Janata Dal(Secular) alliance. The two parties, along with the Bahujan Samaj Party and two independents, have the support of 117 MLAs, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has the support of 104 leaders.
Kumaraswamy will take oath on Wednesday, but the rest of the leaders will take oath only after the trust vote, which is expected the same day. He dismissed reports on Sunday that the JD(S) and the Congress were working out a power-sharing formula for heading the government for 30 months each, similar to the agreement in 2006 between the JD(S) and the BJP, which had fallen through.
On Monday, Kumaraswamy dismissed reports of resentment within Congress over the alliance, and called it fake news.
Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy said, “We are 100% happy. A give-and-take policy is there. even in the Bengaluru’s Municipal Corporation, an alliance is functioning smoothly for three years,” ANI reported. “Of course some people in both parties will have to sacrifice, as all cannot become ministers.”
Meanwhile, the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha has written to Kumaraswamy demanding that Congress’ Shamanuru Shivashankarappa be made the home minister in the new government. It also sought that five other leaders from the community be given ministerial positions.
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