Bangalore: Allocating the portfolios three days after expansion of the Congress-JD-S (Janta Dal-Secular) Ministry headed by him, Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh today (Jun 8, 2004) retained the key Home department with him and gave plum portfolios of Finance, Revenue, Public Works and Energy to JD-S.

The coalition leading partner Congress has secured other important portfolios of Excise and Water Resources, under a deal on portfolio sharing which dragged on following a tussle between the two parties over gaining the key departments.

Elections 2004-Where is India heading...
Political Parties in India

Ever since the State's first-ever coalition Government assumed office nearly two weeks after the State Assembly election results were out with a fractured verdict, both parties had been haggling over sharing of portfolios, particularly Home.

Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who gave up claims for Chief Ministership after days of persuasion has been allocated only Finance by Singh who has retained the Excise also with him. The JDS leader had been demanding Excise in addition to Finance.

Former Home Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress, who had reportedly been angling for the Home portfolio which he had held in the S M Krishna ministry, has been given Water Resources and Transport.

Senior JDS leader, P G R Sindhia, also a keen aspirant for Home department, has to be content with Large, Medium and Small Scale Industries and Infrastrcture Development, excluding Civil Aviation.

According to a notification issued from Raj Bhavan who announced the portfolio allocation, another senior JDS leader, M P Prakash gets Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs and his party colleague D Manjunath Higher Education.

H D Revanna, son of former Prime Minister and JD(S) president H D Devegowda, who played a key role in the installation of the coalition Government, has been given two major departments of Public Works and Energy.

S R Morey of Congress gets Municipal Administration including Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) and his party colleagues K Srinivasa Gowda and Prakash Hukkeri Agriculture and Agricultural Marketing, respectively.

Mirajuddin Patel of JDS gets Animal Husbandry and Wakf and the lone minister of State Tanvir Sait Labour and Wakf.

Leaders of both the parties were involved in hectic parleys till late last night (Jun 8, 2004) and managed to strike a consensus paving way for portfolio finalisation.

Earlier in the day, Sindhia had said all problems related to portfolio allocation have been sorted out.

Following are the portfolios allocated to the Ministers: