Bangalore: In the first major sign of its uneasy relations with its ruling coalition partner, Congress, JDS (Janata Dal-Secular) today (Aug 28, 2004) came out openly to give vent to its displeasure over delay in expanding the three-month-old ministry and asked for meeting its five-point demands from "tomorrow itself".

As the much-talked about expansion exercise by Chief Minister N Dharam Singh remained elusive, upset JDS legislators put the Congress on notice, making it plain they would brook no further delay in having a full-fledged cabinet.

At a meeting held under the leadership of Kumar Swamy, MLA, and son of former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H D Devegowda, the legislators passed a resolution containing five demands, including expansion of the 22-member ministry.

In a strong message to the Congress, Kumar Swamy said, "They will have to pay a heavy price if they think that we have held the meeting just for the heck of it."

Finding solution to the crisis over admission to professional colleges, urgent steps to establish a High Court bench in north Karnataka, power sharing for State-owned boards and corporations and due importance to its MLAs in developmental works are on the list of JDS demands.

"Things are not happening the way understanding was reached in the presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi," Kumar Swamy said at the end of more than 2-hour-long meeting.

But, in charge of party affairs in Karnataka and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh spoke of compulsions and limitations of coalition and said expansion was the Chief Minister's prerogative.

He however added that the ministry expansion was "very much on the cards in a matter of days".