Kumaraswamy meets Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi discusses government formation

JDS leader and Karnataka chief ministerdesignate H D Kumaraswamy presents a bouquet to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi during a meeting at Congress President Rahul Gandhis residence in New Delhi on Monday PicPTIJDS leader and Karnataka Chief Ministerdesignate HD Kumaraswamy on Monday met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to discuss ministerial berth sharing between the coalition partners ahead of his swearingin ceremony on WednesdayThe details of the meeting were not divulged but the sources said the Congress demanded two posts for Deputy Chief Ministers one for a Dalit and the other for a Lingayat 12 for ministers and one for the Speaker However Kumaraswamy said the matter will be finalised when the two sides sit together on Tuesday in BengaluruThe Congress has authorised its General Secretary incharge of Karnataka KC Venugopal to discuss the matter with local Congress leadership including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah He will also discuss the issue with the Janata DalSecular JDS leadership Rahulji cleared the modalities to be done He has given permission to Venugopal to discuss all those matters and finalise everything He will sit together to finalise things Kumaraswamy told reporters after meeting the GandhisHe also invited both the Congress leaders to his oathtaking ceremony in Bengaluru on Wednesday Both agreed to come he said Kumaraswamy earlier met Bahujan Samaj Party BSP chief Mayawati here and discussed plans of putting in place a Congress and JDS coalition government The JDS contested the Karnataka election in a prepoll alliance with the BSP and later had a postpoll tieup with the Congress JDS General Secretary and Spokesperson Danish Ali said Kumaraswamy and Congress leaders discussed long term relationship on mutual trust of the newlyformed coalition and vowed to give a joint contest to the BJP in Karnataka in 2019 Lok Sabha pollsAli told NDTV This is what we have decided We will fight together Asked about Congresss demand of two Deputy Chief Ministers he said Who will be their Deputy CM its up to them Congress Before Kumaraswamy meet the Gandhis senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot met Rahul Gandhi and are learnt to have discussed issues related to government formation in Karnataka Besides Sonia and Rahul Gandhi Mayawati and Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal Delhi Pinarayi Vijayan Kerala Mamata Banerjee West Bengal Chandrababu Naidu Andhra Pradesh and K Chandrashekar Rao Telangana are expected to attend the oathtaking ceremonyMeanwhile BJP President Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on both the parties and described the alliance as unholy while defending his partys decision to form the government We were invited to form the government There was nothing unethical Shah told reporters here The BJP emerged as the singlelargest party in Karnataka The mandate was in favour of the BJP The Congress and the JDS formed an alliance against the peoples mandate This is what I call an unholy allianceHe said if the Congress and the JDS had not locked their MLAs in fivestar hotels and allowed them to interact with people the JDS would have supported the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP in government formation Shah said the BJP was invited to form the governments in Goa and Manipur earlier because the Congress did not stake claim despite emerging as the singlelargest party as their leaders were resting and sleepingThe BJP chief said as the singlelargest party it was the BJPs right to stake claim Responding to charges of attempts at horse trading by the BJP Shah hit back saying it was the Congress which sold its stable to form the state government Hitting out at the Congress for preaching on democracy Shah reminded how it formed the government in Goa in 1980 despite failing to win a single seat in the Assembly electionsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever