Jd(s)congress to discuss K’taka cabinet expansion in Dec 3 meeting

NEW DELHI: A meeting of Karnataka’s ruling Janata Dal (Secular)-congress coalition coordination committee will be held in Bengaluru on December 3 to discuss the possible cabinet expansion in the state.

The coalition government was formed even as the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats in a 224 member state assembly in May.

The Congress offered Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy the chief ministerial post despite winning 80 seats. Kumaraswamy’s party could manage just 37.

The expansion is expected to take place after the completion of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram on December 11.

The five-member panel will also discuss appointments of chairpersons for different state boards.

A media report on Wednesday claiming that Kumaraswamy will step down on health grounds had triggered panic among his supporters. The chief minister’s office and Kumaraswamy have since refuted the report.

Congress legislature party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah heads the panel.

It includes Kumaraswamy, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and Congress’s Karnataka in-charge, KC Venugopal. Janata Dal (Secular)’s Kunwar Danish Ali is the panel’s convener.

“I have convened the meeting of the coordination committee on December 3 to discuss the cabinet expansion and the appointments of heads of different boards,” Ali said.

A 10-day Karnataka assembly session has been also called in Belagavi in northern Karnataka from December 10. Belagavi is proposed to be made Karnataka’s second capital. An assembly complex was inaugurated there for the purpose in October 2012.