Chief minister designate of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy will be meeting the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Wednesday and seek their blessings before his swearing-in on Feburary 3 in Bangalore.
Upon his arrival in New Delhi, Kumaraswamy will head for the residence of L K Advani, leader of the Opposition, on Aurangzeb Road in the heart of the city. The meeting is scheduled for 11 am. Subsequently, he will visit the residence of A B Vajpayee, former prime minister.
BJP president Rajnath Singh will receive him in his office around noon, where the details of formation of the new coalition government between the two parties could be firmed up.
"We have already agreed to 18-16 arrangement between the Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP. The departments that were with the congress party would go to the JD-S and those with the JD-S in the Dharm Singh government would come to the BJP," he said.
The power-sharing arrangement is for twenty months. BJP Karnataka leader, B S Yediyurappa will be present during deliberations. He is set to be deputy chief minister in the Kumaraswamy cabinet and later take over as chief minister.
Former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu would host a lunch for media persons in the afternoon, where they will be able to interact with both Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa.
Dharam Singh, caretaker chief minister, is, incidentally, also in New Delhi. On Tuesday he met Home Minister Shivraj Patil. He is likely to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party on Wednesday and seek directives about future course of action.
Complete coverage: Karnataka - A coalition's fall