JD(S)-Congress rift persists, swearing-in to take time

Bengaluru: Having shared power with the Congress once in 2004-06, the Janata Dal (Secular) knows the ways of its coalition partner better than anyone else, which could explain why it has decided to play the waiting game till the Congress gives in to its demands on portfolio allocations.

Though the JD(S) is putting up a brave front claiming that the portfolio-sharing crisis is over, party sources said that talks between the coalition partners was still progressing at a snail’s pace. Even AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal has gone on record saying that the issues are yet to be sorted. He had also hinted that besides the finance portfolio, the Congress was eying several other portfolios.

Sources in the JD(S) said that with the talks making no headway, the swearing-in of ministers may take some more time. “Party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda may resort to a waiting game. By doing so, he may drive the Congress leaders to exhaustion and they may be relent and accept the conditions of the JD(S),” a source said.

The sources also said that the JD(S) is planning to maintain a tight leash on the Congress ministers in the H.D. Kumaraswamy government by appointing loyal IAS officers in the ministries given to the Congress. “Once you appoint an IAS officer loyal to you in a department headed by a Congress minister, the chief minister will control the ministry, not the Congress minister,” a source reasoned, adding that this was the reason why Mr Kumaraswamy had not reshuffled the top bureaucracy so far, which any other CM would have done immediately after assuming office.