JD-S, Congress resolve rift over portfolios

Bengaluru: After almost a week of bitter wrangling over portfolios which saw the two sides hit an impasse and chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy threatening to walk out of the coalition, the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government has finally laid all differences aside and will, in all probability, swear in a full-fledged Cabinet as early as Wednesday or Thursday.

The JD(S) pulled off a major coup after the Congress was persuaded into giving up the prized portfolio of finance and agreed to settle for home, water resources and the biggie, Bengaluru development, instead. This despite pressure from old Congressmen clamouring for ministerial rank after being kept out of the inner circle by former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who largely inducted colleagues from his old Janata Parivar days.

Clinching the deal between the partners were the negotiations between AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on one side and Mr Kumaraswamy and his New Delhi representative Danish Ali on the other, said sources, who added that at one stage with the talks going nowhere, the CM had even threatened to step down and offer only outside support to a Congress government if his party did not get the finance portfolio.

Finally, the JD(S) got what it wanted — finance — and also public works and revenue, but had to give up the Bengaluru development and water resources ministries.

Insiders said that “if all goes well and if the minor hiccups are overcome, the new ministers will take the oath of office in a couple of days, but it will be a Cabinet in ‘instalments’ with about 10 ministers from both parties likely to be sworn in first.”

Initially, the Congress was willing to offer the JD(S) only horticulture, sericulture, forest, science and technology and statistics, following which a miffed JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda is said to have

instructed his son, Mr Kumaraswamy, to stick to his guns and insist on the finance portfolio. The Congress opposed this, citing precedents in 2004 and 2006, when the deputy CM in the coalition government — in this case Dr G. Parameshwar of the Congress — had handled finance. In 2004, it was Siddaramaiah as deputy CM in the Dharam Singh government who handled the state’s finances, followed by B.S. Yeddyurappa, in 2006-07, as deputy CM in the BJP-JD(S) coalition government.

Mr Azad and Mr Ashok Gehlot also argued that it made sense for the Congress to retain Bengaluru development after winning a large number of seats in the city.

But on seeing that Mr Kumaraswamy was set on the finance portfolio, Mr Azad changed tack and offered to give up the PWD and revenue portfolios to the JD(S), besides finance, in exchange for Bengaluru development and water resources. A reluctant Mr Kumaraswamy accepted the offer, but according to sources has warned against any more pressure from the Congress, saying it would force him to quit office, and end the coalition experiment.