JD( S), Cong hold talks on Cabinet expansion

New Delhi, Oct. 4: The JD( S) and its coalition partner Congress held talks in the national capital on Thursday to finalise the names for cabinet expansion in Karnataka.

The discussions were held between former prime minister and JD( S) supremo Deve Gowda and state Congress incharge K C Venugopal here.

After the meeting, Gowda said, "We discussed about filling up the vacant posts.

The Congress High Command will decide ( on the cabinet expansion) after taking Siddaramaiah and the deputy chief minister into confidence."

Siddaramaiah heads coordination committee of the coalition government in Karnataka.

The much- awaited expansion of the H D Kumaraswamy ministry in Karnataka is likely to take place next week and aspirants from Congress have already started lobbying for ministerial berths.

This would be the second expansion of the cabinet since the coalition came to power in May.

In the earlier exercise on June 6, Kumaraswamy had inducted 25 ministers, taking the ministry's strength to 27.

There are six vacant ministerial positions for the Congress and one for the JD( S).

Under the power sharing arrangement reached by the two parties, the Congress will have 22 ministers and the JD( S) 12.

The decision to expand the cabinet has come amid speculations that some disgruntled Congress MLAs were being wooed by the BJP, besides reported factionalism within the party, sources said.