As the day when B S Yediyurappa will take over as chief minister of Karnataka nears, both the Janata Dal-Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party seem to have reached a consensus over the portfolios.
The two parties were at war till just three weeks ago regarding the sharing of the portfolios, but at the moment everything seems fine between the two parties.
While there is still some confusion in the JD-S camp regarding the post of deputy chief minister, party sources say that in all probability former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy will take the post.
In case Kumaraswamy refuses the post, his brother H D Revanna is being pitched for the post, by their father H D Deve Gowda.
Although Gowda is in favour of Revanna becoming the deputy CM, the party legislators want Kumaraswamy to don the mantle.
Both parties have sorted out their issues regarding the home and finance portfolios. While the BJP will get to keep the home ministry, finance will be handled by the JD-S. Sources said that Kumaraswamy, even if made the deputy CM, will handle both the finance and the urban development ministries. There was confusion between the two parties regarding the urban development portfolio too earlier, but that seems to be sorted out.
The other key portfolios such as law and irrigation will remain with the BJP while PWD will be handled by the JD-S.
Apart from this a new advocate general for the state too has to be appointed. With Uday Holla resigning as advocate general, the two parties have decided to appoint senior advocate B V Acharya to the post.
Earlier during the day, both the parties paraded their MLAs before the governor to indicate that they had the required strength to form the government. Both parties together now have 121 seats in the 226 member house.
It was like taking the children to school, said a BJP worker. A bus had to be arranged to take the MLAs and also they had to ensure that none of the MLAs were in contact with other political parties. Once at the Raj Bhavan too party workers were on their toes until, they finally got to parade the MLAs before the governor.
The interesting part of the letter by the BJP was that it had the signature of Sriramulu, the cabinet minister who had caused problems for the coalition by making murder charges against Kumaraswamy.
Governor Rameshwar Thakur is believed to have told senior leaders of both parties that a favourable decision would be taken. However this procedure may take at least another four to five days. The governor will have to first send a report to the Union government.
The Union cabinet meeting will have to be convened and a decision taken to revoke president's rule in the state of Karnataka. Following that the state cabinet will have to be revived and only then will the government be formed.
