BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) state president H D Kumaraswamy is expected to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s cabinet on Sunday. Modi will be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term.
“In addition to Kumaraswamy, a few MPs from BJP will take the oath tomorrow,” said JDS MLC T A Sharavana, who is currently in Delhi with several JDS legislators.
The BJP and JDS contested the Lok Sabha elections as allies, securing 17 and 2 seats respectively, limiting the ruling Congress to 9 seats. Since the BJP was unable to achieve a majority independently, it has allocated some cabinet positions to its allies.
According to sources, the NDA meeting held on Thursday devised a formula to allocate one cabinet berth for every five seats won by allies. Those with less than five seats will be appointed as Ministers of State. Although JDS secured only two seats, which qualifies it for one Minister of State position, the BJP has decided to grant Kumaraswamy a cabinet berth due to his stature as a former Chief Minister.
There is no clear indication yet as to which are BJP MPs from Karnataka will be inducted into the cabinet. However, BJP sources suggest that former union minister Prahlad Joshi, and either of the former Chief Ministers Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai, are likely to take the oath. If not, they are expected to be inducted in the subsequent round of expansion. Former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol’s name is also in contention under the Dalit quota.
Bengaluru Rural MP C N Manjunath, brother-in-law of Kumaraswamy, who defeated Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s brother in Bengaluru Rural, is also aspiring to secure a position in the Modi cabinet.
“In addition to Kumaraswamy, a few MPs from BJP will take the oath tomorrow,” said JDS MLC T A Sharavana, who is currently in Delhi with several JDS legislators.
The BJP and JDS contested the Lok Sabha elections as allies, securing 17 and 2 seats respectively, limiting the ruling Congress to 9 seats. Since the BJP was unable to achieve a majority independently, it has allocated some cabinet positions to its allies.
According to sources, the NDA meeting held on Thursday devised a formula to allocate one cabinet berth for every five seats won by allies. Those with less than five seats will be appointed as Ministers of State. Although JDS secured only two seats, which qualifies it for one Minister of State position, the BJP has decided to grant Kumaraswamy a cabinet berth due to his stature as a former Chief Minister.
There is no clear indication yet as to which are BJP MPs from Karnataka will be inducted into the cabinet. However, BJP sources suggest that former union minister Prahlad Joshi, and either of the former Chief Ministers Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai, are likely to take the oath. If not, they are expected to be inducted in the subsequent round of expansion. Former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol’s name is also in contention under the Dalit quota.
Bengaluru Rural MP C N Manjunath, brother-in-law of Kumaraswamy, who defeated Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s brother in Bengaluru Rural, is also aspiring to secure a position in the Modi cabinet.
