Cong, JD(S) to fight 2019 Lok Sabha elections together
BENGALURU: Ten days after coming to power, the Jds-congress ministry in Karnataka is set to be expanded on June 6, as the two parties reached a power-sharing arrangement after intense haggling and announced their decision to fight the Lok Sabha polls as pre-poll allies.
Capping protracted hard bargaining with Congress top central leadership stepping in, the two parties voiced their “firm resolve” to ensure that the coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy would complete its full five-year term.
The Congress has conceded the plum Finance portfolio to its junior partner, resolving a thorny issue, after its president Rahul Gandhi intervened and spoke to Kumaraswamy.
As per the power-sharing agreement, the Congress would get the portfolios of Home, Irrigation, Bangalore City Development, Industry and Sugar Industry, Health, Revenue, Urban Development;
Rural Development, Agriculture, Housing, Social Welfare, Forest and Environment, Labour, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Science and Technology and IT/ BT, among others.
The JDS’S portfolios include Finance, Excise, Information, Intelligence, Public Works Department, Power, Cooperation, Tourism, Education and Transport.
Energy portfolio had also emerged as a sticky point in the negotiations, with state senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who was the main person who kept the Congress flock together during the political drama, reportedly keen on it.
The chief minister would decide the rest of the portfolios in consultation with the deputy chief minister, Venugopal said.
The ministry would be expanded on June 6, Kumaraswamy said.
It had also been decided that the Congress and JDS would fight the next Lok Sabha elections as pre-poll allies, the joint statement said, adding, the exact distribution of seats would be worked out and announced later.
A common agenda for governance based on the manifesto of both the parties would be prepared and presented to the people of the state at the earliest, the statement said. The two parties also announced a coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee which would meet at least one in a month.
The committee comprises Kumaraswamy, Parameshwara, Siddaramaiah, Venugopal and Danish Ali.
Siddaramaiah would be the chairman and Ali the convenor of the coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee.
Under the agreement, all appointments to statutory boards and corporations would be cleared by the coordination committee. Two-thirds of the posts will be Congress appointees and one-third JDS.