Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jun 10: The much-awaited state ministry expansion is likely to take place on Wednesday June 12. Expectations are rife about JD(S) member of legislative council and chief general secretary, B M Farooq, getting a berth during this expansion. At present, coastal Karnataka is represented only by U T Khader of the Congress, and if Farooq gets a chance, it will be a bonus for coastal Karnataka.

JD(S) currently has two unfilled ministerial quota seats. Although Siddaramaiah had wanted both the seats to be given to independent legislators to steady the rocking boat of the government, a suggestion which the chief minister had agreed to, Deve Gowda is said to have put his foot down and insisted that JD(S) can sacrifice only one seat and the other seat should come from the Congress. Another point that goes in favour of Farooq is that JD(S) has not given ministerial berth to representatives of the minority community while the Congress has accommodated U T Khader and Zameer Ahmed in the ministry.

Farooq, who is close to both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy, has been active in party's organizational matters. The earlier effort of the party to make him a Rajya Sabha member had failed and during the formation of the coalition government, he missed out on account of calculations relating to allocation of portfolios.

JD(S) leaders also have to handle pressure being brought by party activists to elevate Basavaraj Horatti and Vishwanath as ministers but the JD(S) has already consented to set aside one of the two seats to independent candidate. Therefore it can pick only one among the three.