Karnataka: Congress gives a jolt to Kumaraswamy before his trust vote

Ahead of the crucial trust vote, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said that the Congress-JDS coalition was yet to decide whether Kumaraswamy will continue as the chief minister for a five-year term.

“We are yet to decide on what portfolios have to go to them and what should be with us, then five years term- whether they should be or we should also...all those modalities we have still not discussed,” Parameshwara, who is also the state Congress chief, told reporters in Bengaluru.

The Congress and the JD-S, who were bitter rivals before the elections, had stitched a post-poll alliance to keep the BJP out of power after it fell short of the majority in Karnataka Assembly polls on May 15.

In the power-sharing arrangement between the parties, the chief minister post was negotiated by the JD-S and deputy chief minister and the speaker post went to the Congress.

Parameshwara’s statement, which came just a day before CM Kumaraswamy trust vote, has given more voices to the insecurity that tugs Congress-JDS survival in Karnataka.

Responding to a question on reports of discontent among several Congress leaders over the party’s decision to choose him as the deputy CM, Parameshwara said that such reports were only in media and were not true.

“In Congress party, there are several leaders who are capable of becoming Deputy Chief Minister or Chief Minister....that’s the asset of the Congress party. It is left to the party high-command to decide on who has to be given what position in this situation when we are in a coalition government,” he said.