Karnataka cabinet: Two-timers in Congress may be left out of ministry

All eyes would be on the announcement to be made by the Congress which finalises its list of ministers in the Karnataka government. Both the JD(S) and Congress came to an agreement on the allocation of portfolios.

The Congress has been holding meetings to decide on who gets what. One of the suggestions that was made was that those who have served two terms as ministers should not be included in the list.

They should be deputed for party work instead, it was suggested.

"There were suggestions that those who already had an opportunity to serve as ministers be left out at least from the first round of Cabinet expansion. It will be conveyed to the party high command," KPCC president G Parameshwara told reporters.

As part of the agreement, the Congress got 22 berths while the JD(S) 12. The Congress is looking to keep those have had two terms aside and make way for the younger lot as per the directive of Rahul Gandhi, who returns to India on June 4.

The Congress is treading carefully on this issue as it does not want any dissent in the party. If the two-term policy were to be implemented, then the likes of D K Shivakumar, K J George, Roshan Baig, R V Deshpande and Shamanur Shivashankarappa would be left out as they have had multiple terms in earlier governments.

There seems to be some amount of dissent within the two parties. Some in the JD(S) feel that the party should not have given up the Water Resources Ministry to the Congress. D K Shivakumar of the Congress is reportedly upset that he will not be given the Power ministry, a portfolio he held in the previous Siddaramaiah led government.