Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday said his party, the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Congress had not yet been able to reach an agreement on portfolio allocation, PTI reported.
“Portfolios have not been allocated,” Kumaraswamy told reporters in Bengaluru. “There are some issues regarding portfolios, but it is not an issue that will pull down the government.”
He said the Cabinet would be expanded once state Congress leaders get approval from the leadership in New Delhi. Kumaraswamy reportedly met former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and party general secretary in charge of Karnataka KC Venugopal before they left for Delhi on Saturday. “State Congress leaders have to get approval from their central leadership, that’s the reason they are going to Delhi today,” the chief minister said. “Once they come back Cabinet expansion will happen smoothly.”
The two parties have already decided that the Congress will get 22 portfolios and the JD(S) 12.
Kumaraswamy’s statements come a day after he won the trust vote in the Assembly. In his speech to the House on Friday, the chief minister explained how he had got together with the BJP in 2006, and said that the present alliance with the Congress was aimed at clearing that blemish, The Hindu reported. “I was still a novice in politics in 2006,” Kumaraswamy said. “I am still guilty of taking political decisions that hurt my father [HD Deve Gowda].”
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