There's tension but confident Congress will take right decision: Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Days after Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy carried out his first Cabinet expansion, the Janata Dal (Secular) leader on Friday admitted that there is tension with the Congress leaders over the allocation of portfolios. However, he expressed confidence that its alliance partner will take the right decision.

"Yes, there is some tension there (regarding portfolio allocation), but I am confident that the Congress leaders will take the right decision," Kumaraswamy said.

The statement came a day after several Congress lawmakers held meetings to discuss denial of Cabinet berths to the party.

A meeting held at M B Patil's residence in Bengaluru on June 7 was attended by disgruntled MLAs including M T B Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baigs.

After the meeting, AICC secretary Jarkiholi said they discussed the cabinet expansion and it was true that they were "unhappy" over not getting ministership.

A similar meeting was also held under former Minister H K Patil's leadership and was attended by Yashvantharayagouda Patil and S R Patil, among others, news agency PTI reported quoting sources.

Stating that several MLAs had spoken to him personally and also over the phone, H K Patil said, "we are thinking about how to avoid such faults from happening in the future and steps need to be taken in this regard. We will take our next steps".

On June 6, the JD(S)-Congress alliance government inducted 25 ministers in the first major Cabinet expansion since Kumaraswamy took oath as Karnataka chief minister on May 23.

After days of hectic discussions and bargaining, the Congress and the JD(S) last week arrived at an understanding on portfolio-sharing. While the grand old party was given charge of 22 ministries, including home, irrigation, health, agriculture and women and child welfare ministries, the JD(S) got 12 ministries, including finance and excise, public works department, education, tourism and transport.