Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is set to allocate portfolios to his team of 33 Ministers on Saturday.
A decision to this effect was taken at a marathon meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s core committee held lateon Friday night in Bangalore.
Though the party managed to fill all the ministerial berths in one go at a swearing-in ceremony held on Thursday, the allocation of portfolios was delayed due to differences among the rival camps and owing to dissidence by some MLAs who were disappointed over not getting ministerial berths.
The core committee of senior leaders — Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, the former Chief Ministers B.S. Yeddyurappa and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, party national general secretary Ananth Kumar and Deputy Chief Ministers K.S. Eshwarappa and R. Ashok — held consultations to clear the decks for the process of allocation of portfolios.
The allocation of portfolios has become a tough exercise as the rival factions in the party are particular about getting plum portfolios for their groups. At the same time, most of the Ministers from the previous dispensation are said to be keen on retaining their portfolios.
However, the party organisation is looking at the allocation of portfolios from the point of preparation for the next Assembly elections.
Hence, it wants key portfolios to be given to those who are active on the field.
The main problem is that all the Ministers who have come from the previous dispensation are holding plum portfolios. This leaves only a few prominent portfolios for the newly inducted Ministers.
The party is trying to strike a balance between the old and new Ministers besides maintaining a balance between the rival factions.
There was hard bargaining from the rival camps during the formation of the ministry and the composition had to be finalised in Delhi in the presence of central leaders.
