Congress will get the post of speaker and a deputy chief minister in Karnataka, the first names that party president Rahul Gandhi will decide in the coming hours ahead of HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in as chief minister + of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government on Wednesday.
The chief minister-designate met Rahul and his mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, at the Congress chief’s residence here on Monday evening.
The visit was a courtesy call to invite the Congress leaders for the swearing-in. It was preceded by a half-hour meeting with pre-poll ally and BSP chief Mayawati, JD (S) secretary general Danish Ali said. Rahul and Kumaraswamy alluded to the history of acrimony between Congress and JD(S) to say they should forget the past and look to the future.
Congress sources said the party’s entire focus was on Kumaraswamy’s oath, election of the speaker and the confidence motion, and that no formal negotiations were held on the specifics of power-sharing.
The reason, sources said, was that any formal discussion would spill over in public and create a controversy which the Congress-JD(S) combine can ill-afford given the backdrop of the hastily cobbled alliance and drama over government formation.
