Date:15/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/15/stories/2004071508000600.htm

Karnataka

Ministry expansion put on hold

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 14. The proposed expansion of the Council of Ministers has been put on hold. It is now expected to take place at the end of the Budget session of the legislature.

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, told presspersons here today that it was not possible to carry out the expansion before the Budget session beginning on July 19. In all probability, the exercise would be undertaken at the conclusion of the session on July 31.

The Chief Minister earlier held a meeting with the Janata Dal (Secular) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, and the Congress leaders, Ahmed Patel and Vilasrao Deshmukh, to discuss the expansion.

On Tuesday, Mr. Dharam Singh met the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to discuss, among other things, the possible expansion of his Council of Ministers. Party sources had indicated that the expansion could take place by July 18, a day before the legislature session began and that it would include seven members each from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).

Ministry expansion put off indefinitely

S. Rajendran reports from Bangalore:

Apart from the official explanation for the delay in the Ministry expansion, senior leaders of the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) told The Hindu , "The whole idea is to ensure that the coalition Government emerges stronger."

Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Deve Gowda are expected to go abroad and the expansion is likely only in the first week of August.

The Chief Minister, who had been camping in New Delhi for three days to seek the concurrence of the party High Command for the expansion of the Ministry, returned to Bangalore late tonight.

The expansion had been put off to enable detailed discussions with Ms. Gandhi and there was no problem between the two coalition partners, he said.

Sources in the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) camps said the Congress High Command wanted to play a more assertive role in the Ministry expansion, particularly in the matter of allocating portfolios to the new Ministers.

Mr. Deve Gowda, who is being regularly consulted by the Chief Minister, said that following the latest developments, he was planning to call off his trip to the U.S. He was to leave for the U.S. on Sunday for a fortnight.

"Anything can happen at the present juncture," he said, obliquely indicating that there was a threat to the coalition Government.

It is said that the High Command wants to first ascertain the Ministries that the Janata Dal (S) would agree to share with it in an effort to avoid the confusion that dragged on for days after the first expansion of the Ministry nearly a month ago.

The High Command is said to be unhappy over the Janata Dal (S) stating that certain Congress legislators should not be accommodated in the Ministry.